Sasuke
by AliceTheBookGirl
Summary: This could be the story of Uzumaki Naruto, the village pariah who became its hero, the paragon of peace and acceptance. But this is really the story of Uchiha Sasuke, a boy who is a ninja before he discovers he can be something more. A single spoken word and a smile mark the start of Sasuke's journey. Ninja-verse AU.
1. Family, Childhood, Memories

Title: Sasuke

Note: T - Adventure/Friendship - Sasuke, Naruto, Team Seven

Summary: This could be the story of Uzumaki Naruto, the village pariah who became its hero, the paragon of peace and acceptance. But this is really the story of Uchiha Sasuke, a boy who is a ninja before he discovers he can be something more. A single spoken word and a smile marks the start of Sasuke's journey. Ninja-verse AU.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (Shippuden) or any of its characters or plot.

Warnings: Character death(s). Major character death(s). Decent load of profanity. Gratuitous author's notes about the hell that was the prewriting process for this fic. Oh, and a very dark beginning. Remember, this is rated T, maybe borderline to M, like T+. Also, keep in mind that this is labelled as an AU, so certain parts will be unexplainably different from canon. (Who wants to reread canon in a _fanfiction_ anyway?)

There are some elements in this story that will be dark, maybe humorish, crack-ish, angsty, boring, intense, bromance-ish, fun...I'm covering all of the bases, except for romance. I can't write that properly. If you don't enjoy this story, that's fine. The internet has a whole variety of stories that may better suit your tastes.

Many thanks to Miranda, who helped with ideas and the like. Really, this story is like 38.2% hers. It's a combination of things we wanted to see happen in the Naruto world. (Like, what even is this story.) (It's two years in the making, that's what it is.)

* * *

 **Prologue**

He wished he had already obtained his Sharingan.

It would have been a great aid to his trek through the village at such a late hour; the streets were enveloped by the shadows of the taller buildings, cast by the light of the full moon. He took his time walking home to avoid any embarrassing stumbles, regardless of the lack of villagers outside. There was no need to rush since his parents had recently begun to expect his late arrival home most days of the week. They always assumed he stayed out to train.

It was mostly true.

When the glow of the lanterns from the entrance of the clan compound came into view, he sprinted the rest of the way, hoping he could make it home in time to greet his parents before they readied themselves for bed. The taps of his sandals echoed around him, unhindered by the lack of other sounds. As soon as he passed the gate, he was blinded once again by the dark—the moon was covered by a thick layer of clouds.

As soon as his eyes were diverted by the darkened sky, his foot hooked on something and he was sent stumbling onto the unforgiving ground. A sharp pain shot up from where his ankle hit the offending object, and new cuts scraped his exposed arms and legs. Muttering words much too vile for any child to know—ninja child or not—he examined his leg, noticing a gash running from his ankle to his heel. Even moving his foot closer to examine the cut in the barely visible lighting made it sting. Grimacing, he pulled down his sleeve and dabbed away the excess blood, and glanced back at the silhouette of what had tripped him.

Luckily— _or_ _perhaps not_ —the clouds cleared just a bit and the moon lit up the road enough to make the shuriken embedded in the dirt glint.

He immediately shot up, Academy training kicking in and taking over. He crouched into a fighting stance, hands ready and legs tensed, ready to spring at any moment. His ears strained to hear any sound as he inched his way through the Uchiha compound, eyes trying to will the Sharingan into use as he scanned the area for whoever had the gall to attack the Uchiha clan.

It was in that moment, senses trying desperately to do more than they were meant to, that he noticed no streetlights illuminated his path home. Not a single sound drifted from the area that was supposed to be filled with the vitality of Konoha's greatest clan. And the shuriken…

Throwing caution to hell, he stumbled his way into a run towards his home, feeling an increasingly suffocating dread as he noticed shuriken and kunai littering the streets of the compound.

He threw himself around a corner, immediately screaming when his feet slipped from underneath him—the earlier injury stinging anew—and he slammed onto his back in a haze of pain and frantic fear. Glancing to his side, he screamed again.

His cousin Inabi stared back at him, face contorted in a choked, fearful expression. His nose was broken and his skull had collapsed in on itself in multiple places; he couldn't even find his eyes. Traces of blood painted across his face—a handmark, where someone had grabbed his head and smashed it into the ground repeatedly. Blood and hair pooled in a mess under Inabi's head. He came to a horrified realization that it was the cause of his fall.

He staggered away from the body until his back hit against a useless lamppost, panting heavily and eyes fixated on what should've been his cousin. His hand reached back and hit another shuriken that was stuck in the ground, making him flinch away. He cradled the new cut close to his chest, trying to suppress the wracking shudders running through his body as each breath felt like swallowing down thumbtacks.

He pried his eyes away from the corpse to glance in the direction of home, only for the dread to intensify into a panic as he saw dark red liquid paint the streets and the silhouettes of things (people?) he couldn't begin to even think about.

Instead, he mentally mapped out the cleanest route home and sprinted there, eyes fixed on his toes and desperately ignoring the splatters that marked the edges of the unimaginable. A limp hand—missing a few fingers—entered and exited his periphery. _A brand-new golden ring nestled on slim, pale fingers with a light blue polish decorating her nails—Kanade-nee-chan._ He only saw the bakery in the corner of his eye, but he clearly noticed the large figure crushed against the splintered remains of the display. _Sako-oba-san._ A head lolled out of a doorway, visage shaped into what may have been a disturbed sleep, had there not been bruises decorating the slim neck, undoubtedly crushing the windpipe. _Short spiked hair, and a series of piercings on the left ear—Hanako-nee-san._

He nearly tripped himself as he stumbled to a halt near his home, desperately ignoring the body— _Akio-ojii-_ san—that he had to leap over to get to the porch. As soon as he entered through his front door, he paused.

No blood, no weapons, no signs of damage on the walls.

He knew he shouldn't have, but he breathed a short sigh of relief. Though he didn't dare call out. Whoever— _whatever_ —was the cause of the devastation outside could very possibly have been hiding in one of the houses.

Taking care not to make a sound, he shifted his feet across the floorboards and approached the first door along the hallway. Minutes after checking most of the rooms and finding them empty, he gripped the handle to the door of the last room. He wanted to steel his resolve to simply open the door, even as he desperately tried to believed that he would find nothing in the room.

He pushed the wooden door open, looked up from his initial gaze on the cold smooth floor…

And froze at the sight he was greeted with and took it all in before he could handle no more.

He collapsed to his knees and vomited out everything his body could give, but then he kept on retching, hoping he could expel all the horror he felt from deep within his chest.

The figures of his loved ones lay atop one another in the middle of the room. Long gashes tore through their bodies and ripped flesh from limb, the red pooling around and beneath their bodies, interrupted only by the white of bone as the moon illuminated the gruesome scene. The grotesque angles of their limbs and necks made the sight more terrifying, but the worst was yet to be seen, he realized, as his eyes drifted upwards.

Blood trailed from two spots on each of their faces, leading to dark black holes that promised to suck in his soul and give him a similar fate as _their_ _eyes where are their eyes who took their eyes—!_

Clutching his face and trying to shield his sight from this horror, he shakily stood back up and tripped out the door he was so hesitant to walk through before ( _never should have walked through_ ).

As he fled from his home, from this _nightmare_ , and towards the Hokage Tower, his eyes did what they previously couldn't and sought out the little filters of moonlight to guide him through the streets.

Sasuke finally awakened the first stage of his Sharingan.

* * *

 **Chapter One: Uchiha Sasuke, No Family, Half a Childhood, and All the Memories**

"No one left but him. I don't know if that's lucky or…"

"Shh. The boy is right there." The whispers became softer, but he could still hear the words clearly. "Don't say anything, but I feel it's a curse. I mean, nobody's even sure how it happened. There's rumors that Hokage-sama knows, though." A short but noticeable silence followed in which he opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling. Every speck of dirt and each little stain burned in sharp clarity in his mind.

He hadn't yet worked out how to turn these annoying eyes off. He simply closed them when the women began to speak again.

"He's like _that_ boy, now. Nothing good can come from this."

"You might be right. I—"

"Hey! Hokage-sama is walking this way. Get back to work." They seemed to shuffle away before lighter footsteps approached and the door to his room clicked shut. He heard the footsteps stop beside his bed.

"Sasuke-kun, I wish to speak with you." The Hokage's voice was solemn and officious, though Sasuke didn't miss the grave tone that underscored his words. In turn, the boy gave the slightest rigid nod of his head to show that he was listening, but nothing else.

The old man cleared his throat. "Though you deserve no less than for me to look you in the eyes as I do so."

The Hokage paused for a moment, as if expecting an answer. Sasuke had nothing to say.

"Sasuke-kun? Are you alright?" Sasuke flinched violently at the sudden touch on his shoulder. "What's wrong, boy? Why do you not open your eyes?"

"I can't," the boy gritted out. "I _can't_."

The touch returned, this time feather-light, as if afraid Sasuke would run away (as he was almost tempted to do). But it felt like neither the relentless grip that he imagined choking out every last breath of his family members ( _that haunted his dreams, reaching for his neck had he arrived a mere moment earlier to catch them in the act_ ), nor did it feel like the reassuring touch of the strongest man of the Land of Fire who fearlessly carried the entire village. It felt like the touch of an old man who had seen or felt too much, like someone whose back bore a permanent cripple from carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"It's alright." The Sandaime's voice echoed the calm, quiet exhaustion that haunted the edges of his touch. "You are safe."

With his eyes still firmly shut, Sasuke felt everything from last night hit him—pain, confusion, anger, _tired tired tired—_ as if a plateau of shock had given way and a dam had broken, and he started crying with muffled and bitten-back sobs wracking his whole body. The hand on his shoulder did not wrap around him, as if aware of his fear, but strengthened comfortingly.

It took a few moments before Sasuke took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. Despairing obsidian orbs met the Hokage's steady gaze.

* * *

Naruto readjusted his goggles over his hair, grimacing when he brushed across a bruise from when some old fuck "accidentally" shoved him into the fountain earlier in the week. The strap had snapped from the impact, and the rubber bands he tied together to replace it always left the goggles at an awkward angle on his forehead. Still, he stared defiantly at his reflection in the mirror—hair mussed and a little greasy, clothes sporting stains and marks from god-knows-what, and a bruise or two from the fountain. But that's what being a ninja was like anyway, so it didn't matter…

And darn right he wanted to look like the full-fledged ninja he _totally_ was. It was a Thursday, and that meant they'd be sparring.

He gave a large grin, full of a childish vitality and arrogance, and snatched his signature jacket from its spot on the floor and dashed full-speed to the Academy.

As expected, he was barely on time, but it was enough to avoid any irritated looks from Iruka that morning. Mizuki gave a small laugh under his breath but shot Naruto a conspiratorial wink, a promise not to point out the moment's tardiness. Naruto gave a sheepish grin and shot him a subtle thumbs-up in response.

The long-winded lectures about shinobi history and practical forms of ninjutsu went over Naruto's head due to his giddiness for the upcoming spars. Finally, finally, finally, _finally!_ Something other than this bull about kachra and the Land of Sand.

He narrowed his eyes around the room—sizing up potential opponents, since a ninja must always be prepared—like a hawk picking out his next victim.

 _Kiba._ A loud, dog-obsessed jerk with his foot constantly in his mouth, so Naruto could probably trip the remaining foot, and he would win, hands down.

 _Hinata._ Hm… Tricky, but she tended to use a lot of hiding techniques, so he'd just have to break all the boxes so she can't hide.

 _Chouji._ All Naruto had to do was toss a bag of chips out of the ring and the match was his. (He sent a prayer up to the dead Kages that he wouldn't have to. His Ninjaritos were too good, but he'll sacrifice them if he must.)

 _Yamada._ He's just fodder. Naruto could beat that nobody anyday!

 _Sakura-chan._ Uhhhhhh…

 _Iruka—_

Shit.

"NARUUUUTOOOOOOOOOOO!"

...

Alright. So he got detention for not paying attention, but screw it, he had a fight to attend!

...

"Aaaaaalright! Let's get this party started!" Kiba yelled into the sharp end of a kunai. "I, Inuzuka Kiba, am your dashing host for this evening, as we enter into action, adventure, and dangers untold. First up, from one of Konoha's strongest families, holding a bloodline trait whose very gaze makes all tremble in their socks and sandals, everyone give it up for…HYUUGA HINATA!"

Poor Hinata looked redder than a brick in the sun. Luckily for her, Iruka quickly snatched the kunai out of Kiba's hand with a growl. "KIBA! I haven't announced anything yet, so _you_ certainly won't! Now, get back and join the rest of the class."

Both Kiba and Akamaru shot glares at Iruka before retreating back into the crowd of students. Giving a huff of annoyance, Iruka turned back to the horribly embarrassed Hinata and gave her a gentle pat on the back. "It's alright, Hinata. We'll have you go first since you're already up here." Her head jerked up to look at him, still frantic, but she gave a hesitant nod and shuffled her way into the makeshift ring, marked by a circle on the ground.

"And," Iruka continued, "let's have...Ino come up, too." (Naruto gave a snort of laughter when Kiba leaned towards him and whispered, "Freaking sexist.")

Ino rushed into the circle with an excited whoop, with Sakura simultaneously hurling encouragements and insults at her friend from her place in the crowd.

"The challenger enters from stage right: the blonde-haired beauty, the bouncy babe, the bodacious broad, the breath-taking bitch, YAMANAKA INO!" Kiba said, before giving a loud yelp as a sandal connected with his left eye. Ino, now as red as a Hinata in the sun, stalked the remaining way into the circle with a single sandal on.

Iruka just shook his head in exasperation, as if saying, "Ugh. Kids. _Ninja_ kids."

"You two will begin when I signal. First, perform the Seal of Confrontation. At the end of the fight, you will also perform the Seal of Reconciliation." Iruka resumed a professional demeanor as he took his place right outside the circle, watching Hinata and Ino raise their right hands in the correct sign. "Good. Ready… Begin!"

"AAAAAAAND Ino blazes in, fists flying! Hinata takes a quick sidestep, oooh, but it's a second too late! Her foot remains out, and Ino trips! Ha! What a klutz. Hinata quickly readjusts herself; what's she gonna do next? Oooh, she didn't move quickly enough! Ino is up and running again, throwing a roundhouse kick and—HIEEH!" Kiba screeched, now hit in the right eye with Ino's other sandal. Akamaru whimpered in sympathy, giving his owner's face a few licks and barking at Ino, who had gone back to dodging Hinata's reluctant palm attacks.

Ino was much more abrasive, but her attacks went flying everywhere—glancing off Hinata's hair, off her jacket, off the air slightly to the right of her left elbow…

"Laaaaame!" Naruto shouted at her. "Your aim is worse than your dad's was on your parents' wedding night!"

A chorus of "OOOOOOOOH"s, a bunch of "Huh?"s, and even a "What does that mean?" resounded behind Naruto as Ino turned to him, now redder than Hinata (though not by very much).

...

"THE WINNER IS…HYUUUGA HINAAAATAAA! As Yamanaka Ino steps out of the ring and is now strangling Uzumaki Naruto!" Kiba yelled, adjusting his ice pack from his left to his right eye.

It took Iruka a good five minutes to break up the fight, though he'd be lying if he said he wasn't sniggering a few times here and there. And that he didn't let Ino strangle Naruto for just a minute longer than he should've.

...

"Alright," Iruka said, calling his small class of hellions back to order, "Next up… Let's have Naruto—"

"WOOHOO!" Naruto yelled, shoving Yamada and Sabo aside to make his way into the ring like a triumphant hero, ready to receive a trophy for a fight he hadn't won yet.

Iruka just gave an exasperated sigh and continued. "And Sasuke."

"OOOH, and do we have a line-up for you now, ladies and gentleladies! In one corner—"

"What corner?! That's a circle, you dummy!"

"Fuck off, I'm commentating, Yamadumbass. Anyway, as I was saying… IN ONE CORNER, the challenger and _extra_ ordinary underdog with a brain too small to know when to quit, iiiiit's… UZUMAKI NARUTO!" he yelled, ignoring the dirty glare from Naruto.

"Aaand—" he continued, before faltering.

With his attention focused entirely on the Uchiha, Naruto didn't notice when Ino gave Kiba a harsh nudge with her elbow, or the pitying looks that Shikamaru and Hinata shot Sasuke, how Sakura seemed terribly worried, or how even Iruka seemed to regret his decision immediately afterwards.

All he saw was Sasuke glaring at him, eyes narrowed in a look that displayed only disgust, like…

Like the old man who pushed him into the fountain. Like the shop-owners who followed him around with their eyes the moment he was within arm's reach of their merchandise. Like every drunk villager that's yelled at him to go die.

"And Uchiha Sasuke," Kiba finished lamely.

"Now," Iruka continued, "please perform the Seal of Confrontation. No, Naruto, your other hand—it's always your dominant hand. Ready… Begin!"

Kicking off with his right leg, Naruto kept low and kicked his foot out to sweep Sasuke's feet—

Next thing he knew, he was face first in the dirt, his arm twisted painfully behind him and a knee pressed down on his back, undoubtedly going to leave bruises there the next day.

"And Sasuke wins," he heard Kiba say in a rather hushed tone, with a hint of awe and trepidation.

Naruto felt the weight move off of him, but he was too shocked to move for a few seconds. (That defeat was just as quick as, but felt a bit harsher, than normal.) Once he got his bearings though, he immediately shot up from the ground, lifting his stiff arm and pointing a finger at the angry boy, whose back faced him as he began to walk away.

"I don't accept it! I want a rematch!" Naruto shouted heatedly. A hand cuffed him over the head.

"Naruto! Sasuke won fairly, so the honorable thing to do now is to take your loss for what it is and make the Seal of Reconciliation with him!" Iruka turned to the other boy, his expression becoming wary and his tone sounding awkward. "You too, Sasuke. Naruto can't make the seal on his own."

There was a tense silence throughout the yard when Sasuke froze in his steps, but everyone breathed a quiet sigh of relief when he smoothly turned around and approached Naruto again, a deep frown still present on his eight-year-old face. Iruka just smiled nervously as he gestured for the boys to continue.

Slowly, they reached out with their hands in the appropriate seal. Just before Naruto met Sasuke's fingers with his own, he made the mistake of looking up.

 _That fucking look._

Instead of hooking his fingers with Sasuke's in the correct seal, he went straight for the bastard's collar, pulling him close. Sasuke reciprocated in kind, grabbing Naruto's collar as well and continuing to glare right at him, dark eyes—

No. _Red_ eyes, just like—

"You're just a loser who has _never_ amounted to anything." The fist on Naruto's collar tightened. "How he ever saw—how _I_ ever thought you were something more…"

Naruto's mind was caught on Sasuke's first sentence, the insult repeating itself over and over. "What was that, you asshole?!"

Before Sasuke could reply, two strong arms pried the boys away from each other.

"Enough! Naruto, Sasuke! The two of you will be serving detention _together_ if you don't calm yourselves this instant!"

"Tch."

Sasuke jerked away from Iruka and seconds later he was gone from the yard.

"Man, I feel sorry for him."

"Just leave him be."

"What a jerk. Sasuke-kun's already going through all that, and Naruto just cares about winning."

Naruto still stood in his spot in the sparring ring, staring at the ground as some other students whispered about the tragedy that occurred the week before.

 _That's right. Sasuke's all alone now. Just like...me._

That explained why Sasuke glared so intensely at him earlier.

 _He seems to hate the whole world now, but why was he always angry at_ me?

* * *

"IIIIIITAAAAACHIIIII-NIIIII-SAAAAAN!"

Itachi cringed slightly as a Sasuke-shaped ball of enthusiasm tackled him happily. Sasuke took no notice, as he proceeded to rub his chubby childish face into his older brother's chuunin vest. Itachi's mildly pained tolerance seemed to have completely missed the slightly smug and vindictive air from his younger brother, as the small child got to embarrass one of the strongest ninjas in the village.

"Sasuke," Itachi greeted once he'd regained his composure. He then smiled warmly. "Is there something you need?"

"You're going to the market, right? Take me with you!"

Itachi's slightly exasperated sigh of, "Sasuke," was met with determined eyes staring right back at him, lower lip jutted out like a petulant blowfish. Relenting, the elder Uchiha simply waved his hand in a vaguely affirmative motion as he grabbed his satchel. Sasuke gave a shout of victory and scrambled to slip his sandals on and run after his brother at the same time.

"The Academy was lame," Sasuke scoffed coolly, once he caught up. "The kids are so stupid! Most of them didn't even know what chakra was. And there were a couple of simpletons who wanted to look cool, but they kept calling it 'kachra'! _Kachra!_ "

Itachi hummed agreeably, seemingly too absorbed in picking out the perfect Fuji apples to muster up a full response.

(Since he hadn't turned around, he did not see the disappointed look the boy held. If he had, he may have dismissed it as a mistake, as the look was quickly replaced by one of determination.)

"And the chuunin instructors," Sasuke continued, "didn't really seem to know what they were doing, either. Some guy—Miyuki-sensei, I think—wouldn't be able to get the class quiet if he had duct tape and an eternal supply of chakra."

This time, Itachi laughed agreeably. "Mizuki-sensei? He's teaching now?"

"Yup!" Sasuke said, preening just the slightest bit at the attention. "He's probably the worst teacher there, which is saying something."

"Mm." Itachi absentmindedly placed a handful of coins onto the counter, waving goodbye to the shopkeeper without even a glance back.

The Uchiha brothers made their way through the marketplace, Itachi gliding through crowds and errands with a fluidity and gracefulness that came with being a practiced ninja, and Sasuke following along like an overeager ankle-biter. Sasuke's overenthusiastic stories were answered with just enough interest on Itachi's part that encouraged Sasuke to continue talking.

Villagers drifted around the Uchiha brothers, creating a nearly biblical image; waves of people parted in deference to the Uchihas, wary eyes staring in awe at the members of Konoha's prodigious clan.

Even Sasuke began to notice, when a toddler stumbled into their path. The child's mother pulled her away, apologizing profusely to the brothers.

"Nii-san, check it out! All these people are practically bowing to us," Sasuke snickered. "It's 'cause we're Uchiha—we're the best in Konoha!"

Itachi looked at his brother with amusement, holding his little hand as they walked down the street through the marketplace. "There's a whole world outside of Konoha, silly little brother. It's enough space for all kinds of people."

The younger boy's eyebrows drew close together, his eyes narrowed, and his lips pursed, all in skepticism. "Hmm, I don't think anyone can be stronger than Uchihas like us, Nii-san."

"Oh? And what about Hokage-sama?"

"Hmph! I bet people think he's powerful because he's super old!"

Before Itachi could muster a proper response to Sasuke's silly notion, his attention was caught by a commotion in the market center. A boy with blindingly blond hair and odd marks on his cheeks was glaring defiantly at an old shopkeeper.

"You got that, kid?" the old man growled. "Touch anything here again and I'll chop your finger off, you little thief!"

"Yeah, yeah, you old geezer," the kid spat back. "You don't believe me now, but one day I'll become Hokage and you'll never doubt me again!" Then he stomped away in a huff.

The "old geezer" merely scoffed before going back inside his shop.

Sasuke shook his head and was about to continue walking when a single soft-spoken word stopped him in his tracks.

"Fascinating."

The hustle and bustle of the marketplace resuming its general busyness almost buried the word in a sea of sound, but Sasuke still heard it, like—

Like the insignificant boy who should've been lost in the ocean of people, but instead stood out like a buoy, with his head held high in defiance.

Sasuke's eyes shot back to his brother—one of thestrongest ninjas in all of Konohagakure, of the Land of Fire, of _the whole ninja world_ —who was still staring at a delinquent with a shoplifting problem…with a _smile_ on his face. Since when did Uchihas _smile_?! (Oh wait, Sasuke always did. He needed to work on that.) It was a rare occurrence coming from Itachi, and it was such a warm look, too.

But it wasn't directed at Sasuke. _That was a problem._

"Nii-san?"

"Hn." Itachi didn't give Sasuke so much as a glance, continuing to flow through the market as if the interruption never happened. Sasuke jogged alongside him, face downturned into the famous Uchiha scowl.

"Nii-san, who was that kid?" demanded the boy.

Itachi took Sasuke's hand again as they approached the bakery, the older boy giving a low hum as he browsed the selection of bread, contemplating his response. "That boy," he murmured, "is Uzumaki Naruto. This is the first time I've seen him."

"Shouldn't someone discipline him for that?" Sasuke said disapprovingly. "He's making a lot of trouble!"

"He is an orphan, Sasuke. There is no one at home to discipline him."

"O-oh." Sasuke clamped his mouth shut for a moment. "W-well, who takes care of him?" he amended.

There was no immediate answer to his question as Itachi selected some loaves of bread and purchased them. They exited the bakery and a few villagers greeted them as they passed by, some commenting on how much the boys had grown since they last saw them. Those people annoyed Sasuke sometimes, especially the rare individuals that would try to pinch his cheeks. Thankfully, he always managed to turn his face away, and Itachi or even another villager would stop the culprit from reaching out anymore. There seemed to be an unspoken rule that those outside the clan would not act so familiarly with the Uchihas.

Sasuke never thought about it. As long as no one pulled at his face, it wasn't really interesting enough to notice.

When the brothers successfully escaped the marketplace and turned down the quiet path that led to the Uchiha compound, Itachi finally spoke. It took Sasuke a few seconds to remember the topic.

"It's not well-known who raised him from a baby until now, and I won't waste time talking about rumors. Now, however…"

Oh! Itachi was talking about that Naruto kid. Sasuke didn't understand why Itachi was still even thinking about that brat. He looked up into his brother's face and was surprised by what he saw.

"Nii-san?"

"Sasuke, I...I don't know if _anyone_ takes care of him now." Itachi looked troubled—a downward quirk of his lips, a crease in his eyebrows. No villager took notice, only shooting the Uchihas nervous smiles, but Sasuke was focused only on his brother.

"What? Why? _How_? He looks my age!"

"I honestly have no idea, Sasuke." Itachi abruptly changed the topic. "I believe Uzumaki-kun started the Academy this year in your class, so perhaps you can become his friend and learn a little more about him." There almost seemed to be an encouraging tone in his voice.

"No way!" Sasuke huffed. For some reason, he found himself annoyed with the blond since seeing him at the market. It didn't make things better when he remembered Itachi's reaction. He'd called him _fascinating_. "That idiot will just distract me from my training, and he'll bother me if he keeps saying he'll become Hokage! That's just silly! Not just anyone can become Hokage. He's not even old!"

The small sigh Itachi gave was light, amusement having chased away the earlier agitation. His face relaxed the tiniest amount and his mouth quirked up on one side.

"Like I always say, _you're_ the silly one, Sasuke. You don't have to be old to be Hokage. You need strength to protect, intelligence to rule, and people's favor to maintain peace. You may not think so now, but I believe...Uzumaki Naruto has a chance to reach that goal one day."

The brothers had finally reached their clan compound, and Itachi deemed it fine to walk on ahead as his little brother remained rooted to his spot at the compound entrance, shock on his face at the praise given to the orphan boy.

He let the words sink in, as such an occurrence would be unlikely to happen ever again. Uchiha Itachi acknowledged some random boy over his own _brother_?

Well, if that kid was so special, Sasuke would just have to be better!

* * *

"—and the loser only hit three targets! _Three!_ I'm telling you, Kaa-san, it was all by luck! _Luck!_ " the indignant Sasuke finished, throwing his hands irritatedly in the air and huffing in annoyance. His mother laughed indulgently as she washed a head of lettuce and some cherry tomatoes (Sasuke couldn't eat salad without tomatoes) in the kitchen sink. Sasuke stood beside her on a wooden step stool, the top of his spiky hair barely reaching her shoulders.

"And when we got our tests back from Iruka-sensei, there was a big fat zero on his! How do you even _get_ a zero? And then he goes on bragging about how he didn't even need tests, and how he'll still be Hokage! _Hokage!_ I wonder if he can even read that grade on his paper." Sasuke paused for a moment from his rant to gratefully accept the cherry tomato his mom held out for him.

"And what makes _you_ so upset about it?" his mom asked.

"I haven't even gotten to that part yet, Kaa-san!" he sighed. "We had our first sparring session today, and _he_ challenged _me!_ To a spar! Mamoru-sensei had already split us into pairs, and he has the…the ahh…the…oh! The audacity to challenge me! _Me!_ "

His mother just laughed along. "And how'd that go?"

Sasuke scoffed. "I won easily."

"Oh? So Mamoru-sensei let you two spar after all."

The pause was long enough for Mikoto to turn around to her son with a raised eyebrow.

"Sasuke?"

He sheepishly stared at his toes.

"Sasuke!" she scolded, though the effect was lost by her own giggling.

"He called me out! I couldn't just let it slide!"

"Sounds like you and he are bitter rivals," Itachi drawled from the doorway.

"Nii-san! You're home!" the little Uchiha chirped, jumping off the stool and rushing to his brother.

"I'm home, Okaa-san, Sasuke," Itachi said, giving Sasuke an affectionate poke on the forehead.

"Welcome home, Itachi," his mother greeted warmly. "Maybe you can talk your brother out of alley fights with a neighborhood delinquent."

"It was _not_ in an alley!" Sasuke said defensively. "It was in the sparring ring, fair and square."

"But isn't the ring a circle?" Itachi joked at Sasuke.

"Whatever! I beat him after classes."

Itachi took a seat at the table, causing Sasuke to scramble for a seat near his brother. "I heard from someone that you were sparring with Uzumaki Naruto," Itachi sought to confirm in mild curiosity.

"Yup," Sasuke said, smirking. "And I won!"

"Against another student and without supervision!" Mikoto reminded him. "And Uzumaki Naruto? You didn't tell me that."

"Against a _ninja_ , and _as_ a ninja," Sasuke argued back, huffing as he slumped down in his seat. He was too embarrassed to admit that he was so worked up that he forgot to mention the other boy's name.

"Ah," Itachi quickly retaliated, "but you aren't ninja just yet." He paused for a moment as Sasuke continued to sulk indignantly. "You know, Sasuke… Maybe you don't even _need_ to be a ninja."

Sasuke shot up in alarm while Mikoto gave Itachi a shocked look.

"What are you saying, Itachi?"

"Yes, what _nonsense_ are you speaking, son?"

Sasuke bolted upright, spine snapping into proper posture as the intimidating form of Uchiha Fugaku approached from the doorway.

"Tou-san, welcome ho—"

"Sasuke, head up to your room," Mikoto interrupted him.

The boy's mouth clamped shut automatically, as he glanced between his family. Mikoto shot him an apologetic glance before focusing on Itachi, while his father had not even looked at him. Itachi's mouth was set in a thin line as he stared his father in the eyes.

Sasuke gave one last look at his family before turning and running to his room, wondering why his beloved brother would practically disregard his dream.

...

The raised voices hadn't lasted long, no more than five minutes, but half an hour later Sasuke still didn't dare head back downstairs.

Why'd Itachi even _say_ that? Why'd he even _think_ that?

The Uchiha were a clan of pride and power. Every Uchiha fought their way to greatness and prominence, becoming part of Konohagakure's force of protectors. They were in the village's Anbu, main forces, and police.

And Itachi just implied that Sasuke shouldn't be any of those things.

The young boy felt the familiar hint of loathing for his older brother that appeared a few times throughout the past year. Did he believe Sasuke didn't have what it took to become a ninja? Was Sasuke just incompetent compared not only to Itachi, but that joke of a student as well?

Every shuriken he threw hit its target. Every test he took came back with full points. Every chakra exercise he performed was regarded as flawless.

" _Keep this up and you'll be a fine shinobi, like your brother."_

" _Fascinating."_

" _Perhaps you can become his friend and learn a little more from him."_

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the door suddenly opened. He hopped to his feet just as his father entered.

"Tou-san!"

"Sasuke," the man said. "Have a seat, son."

Sasuke settled back on his bed while his father hovered a meter away.

"I hear you had an altercation with the Uzumaki child."

 _That idiot again. 'Cause he's more important than your kid starting the Academy_. "He challenged me," Sasuke said sullenly. "He keeps mocking me, so I was just showing him what an Uchiha can do." The look he gave his father held the slightest bit of defiance and pride, somewhere in between being an obstinate Uchiha and denouncing the godforsaken name altogether.

Fugaku's reply, then, came as a surprise. "That is good."—Sasuke blinked owlishly, as if clearing his eyes could also clear his ears—"Wear the clan symbol with pride, son. However, you should consider further associating yourself with that boy. He's a special one and it would do you good to surround yourself with those who are strong, as long as you are stronger."

His father placed a hand on his shoulder, nudging him off the bed. "Come. Your mother has prepared dinner."

When Fugaku left, he didn't look and see the little boy rooted to his spot, staring at his back with an odd look of betrayal and conflict.

* * *

Not a single damn kunai hit its target.

Sasuke was somewhere near screaming or crying ( _or both_ ) from exhaustion and frustration and just being so _done with all of this_. If he knew any, he would have used a fire technique to burn the surrounding trees and all the targets to ashes, screw the consequences. With his current skill set however, all he would manage to do was make deep gouges in tree trunks and snap branches in half.

Instead, the boy dragged himself back onto his feet—muscles stretched sore and bruises dotting skin like a disease—and trudged around slowly to pick up every kunai he threw ( _every failure_ ).

A deep breath.

Small ( _weak_ ) legs shot up, kicking off of trees until he was upside down in midair, meters above the ground.

He threw the kunai, motions fluid, as if the weapons were still controlled by him even as they flew across the small clearing. Three kunai redirected other kunai before hitting their own targets as well.

The next kunai slipped.

( _Another failure._ )

Another overshot the target by a meter.

( _And another._ )

The next dug out just the barest mark on its target before falling unceremoniously.

( _And another._ )

Sasuke landed on his feet, a kunai following soon after and embedding itself in the exposed roots of a nearby tree, the target it was supposed to hit staring down at him with condescension.

Five failures.

Four missed targets and Sasuke himself, staring pathetically at all his persistent mistakes.

He didn't even try to contain the frustrated scream this time, punching the tree. The target kept its look of mocking patronization.

When he drew himself up this time, Sasuke didn't bother to collect the kunai, instead throwing his hands into his pockets and trudging away from the irksome target area.

What was he doing wrong? Not only with target practice, but with so many other aspects of ninja training.

His dad, his teachers, and most of the villagers only talked about Itachi. Itachi hit all the targets. Itachi was top of his class. Itachi just entered into Anbu. He was the pride of the clan, the village, the nation. Leave it to Itachi to make every mission successful. Work hard like Itachi. Become a fine shinobi like Itachi. Be like Itachi.

Sure, he could attempt to do that, if Itachi was actually around long enough these days for Sasuke to know what his own brother was even like anymore.

Sasuke scowled as he left the Uchiha Clan boundaries of the forest and moved to the public training areas, all the while thinking of Itachi's most recent routines.

It was not uncommon for Itachi to be away from home for extended periods of time, his excuse being missions assigned by the Hokage himself. Sasuke believed that the world mocked him whenever he would ask his older brother to train with him, since it just so happened that Itachi would need to leave right away.

If Itachi didn't want to train with him, that suited Sasuke _just_ fine. He didn't have to say, "Maybe later, Sasuke," as if he was just tired or busy at the moment. Sasuke had attended the Academy for a few years now and he had been training himself to "look underneath the underneath," as he heard some passing jounin once say. It wasn't as if Sasuke was some incompetent, naive civilian child.

Whatever.

Sasuke had other important things to do anyway. He could scout out the abilities of his _rival_. Ugh. Sasuke felt the title was too grand for that blond menace, but his vocabulary was still a bit limited at his age. He also wasn't very adept at insulting people, but he felt proud of coming up with the word "usuratonkachi" for the idiot when they were forced to do a teamwork exercise and he totally got in Sasuke's way.

The downside was that the dobe always responded with "Teme!" and Sasuke had no idea what it meant, and he wasn't about to ask Itachi, his mother, or—God forbid—his _father_ about it. All he needed to understand was that it was absolutely rude.

But regardless of the words they threw around, the two boys knew their abilities as ninja-in-training mattered the most.

And so Sasuke maneuvered his way through the dense forest with a particular destination in mind, a place he began to frequent when his own training became more of a waste of time than actual progress.

As the trees grew less dense and allowed more sunlight to filter through, Sasuke could hear a small voice calling out, followed by a thump each time. He slowed his pace down, taking measured steps. When he saw a speck of bright yellow in the distance, he stopped altogether, squatting low to the ground until he couldn't see the blond tuft of hair anymore. After a few minutes of slowly and quietly waddling over, he readjusted himself to crawling on all fours, and then finally ended up shuffling on his stomach, ignoring the branches poking at him. When he was safely past the "danger zone," he snuck behind the trunk of a nearby tree and pushed himself up as the idiotic cries of "HIII-YAAAA!" resounded from nearby.

Of course _Naruto_ would shout like that.

Sasuke peeked from behind his leafy fortress in disdain, watching the blond menace hit the training post again. "HIII-YAAAA!"

For the sake of Six Paths, even his basic taijutsu was _appalling_.

Sasuke gave a sigh of exasperated annoyance, but quickly ducked as the blond snapped around abruptly at the sound.

...

Naruto was absolutely sure he heard someone breathing loudly from the forest. Even before he heard that, he felt a stirring in the pit of his gut and an inclination towards…something that caught his attention, like spiderwebs caught in the edges of his mind and pulling him back towards the source whenever he turned around.

As seconds ticked by, the feeling settled heavier and heavier, like a glaring pressure.

He whipped his head around, but all he saw was the fores—

Hey, wait a second, moss wasn't black and spiky like a duck's behind!

"OI! TEME! I see you 'hiding' there!"

The little black blob jostled a little before, surely enough, Uchiha Sasuke emerged, scowl firmly in place.

"Usuratonkachi," he greeted flippantly, as if he hadn't just been _spying_ on Naruto a minute ago.

"The hell are you doing here, teme?" Naruto huffed, annoyed. "Come to see how a true ninja trains? Or have you come _crawling_ back for a rematch?!"

Sasuke bristled. "Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Sasuke asked haughtily. "If I recall correctly, I was the one who beat you."

"Only because you cheated!"

"I didn't cheat!"

"You did so!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

With each subsequent accusation, the boys took a step closer towards each other until they were right in each other's breathing spaces, gripping the front of the other's shirt and ready to punch the living daylights out of him.

"You want a rematch then?" Sasuke gritted out. "You're on, dobe!"

"Bring it, teme!" Naruto said, grinning.

...

The match took a grand total of seventeen seconds.

It wasn't until late evening that Iruka happened to pass by the training area and untie the loudly-cursing Naruto from the training post, while reprimanding him that "every ninja should know how to untie ropes."

...

Sasuke would never admit it, and even tried his best to hide it at the time, but he was grinning the entire way home.

...

Naruto vehemently denied that he was anything but outraged from losing to Sasuke again.

(But really, he knew he would give up ramen for a few hours if he could challenge the teme like that again.)

* * *

When Naruto made his way home, he may have dragged his feet.

( _Not as if anyone was waiting for him back at that place, anyway._ )

After the fight at the Academy and Sasuke's quick disappearance, Iruka-sensei lectured him for an hour about honor and respect. For once, Naruto kept silent, though he hadn't quite been listening. Iruka had realized that and dismissed him with a sigh and an offer of ramen, but Naruto declined, insisting that he needed to train for a little before it got dark outside, given the shorter days as autumn was fading into winter.

But when he reached the practice area, he couldn't bring himself to throw a single kunai. He was distracted by annoyance and guilt. After three half hearted punches and an attempt at practicing Bunshin to no avail, Naruto just threw his arms up and made his way out of the forest.

When Naruto demanded a rematch with Sasuke earlier, he completely forgot about the massacre of the Uchiha Clan. Other than Iruka about his bad habit of skipping, he hadn't talked to anyone since the incident. And at the time ( _like it always was_ ), Sasuke was just Sasuke. His rival. His goal. His fr—

No, they weren't friends. But sometimes…Naruto wished…

( _But what good is wishing—he of all people should know this._ )

Ever since they met, Sasuke would glare at Naruto, not with disgust, but with something akin to suspicion, maybe even skepticism judging by the way the Uchiha's face pinched together when he squinted. It was never the same spiteful look that people like that old jerk at the fountain gave him. It confused Naruto, making him wonder if he really hated Sasuke, and if Sasuke hated him back. Either way, no matter what Sasuke thought of Naruto, the blond knew he wanted to prove the other wrong. That determination didn't change, especially now that Naruto could understand Sasuke the slightest bit more.

Naruto felt a nagging pull at that moment, the feeling tugging at him harder the closer he got to the lake near the edge of the village.

He slowed down as he reached the crest of the grassy hill that bordered the lake, and strolled along the dirt path. He spotted from afar a tiny figure sitting at the end of the lone dock, and as he got closer he realized who it was.

 _So this is where he went_ …

Once he reached the crest of the hill above the dock, Naruto stopped walking to stare at Sasuke's back. The Uchiha Clan symbol glowed red and white amidst the dark fabric of the shirt. Naruto grit his teeth as he debated whether or not to move forward, wanting to approach the Uchiha and finally rid himself of his guilt, but also wanting to turn away in a huff and never look back.

But then the red crescent of that fan kept him a bit mesmerized, pulling forth memories of red eyes.

" _Take good care…"_

Naruto scrutinized the boy on the dock.

 _Is Sasuke…the one that…?_

He made to take a step—away or towards the Uchiha, he wasn't quite sure—when the boy by the pier whipped around suddenly, as if startled by the sudden awareness of Naruto's presence.

The sudden movement, in turn, had Naruto slamming his foot down to reorient himself on the ground—wait shit, he missed—shit—wait—

Naruto wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he did notice that he was somersaulting straight into the goddamn Uchiha.

Both boys gave a shout of surprise. Sasuke's elbow connected with Naruto's spleen, Naruto kicked Sasuke in the back of the head, and they both fell in a sprawling heap of limbs and combined misery as they went tumbling into the water.

...

Sasuke idly wondered whether this really would be the end of him. Maybe his death was coming late? Was it the idea of death or the delay that bothered him? He wondered if he was bothered at all.

His whole family was dead and the unknown killer— _killers?_ —was yet to be found. Every shadow made him jump and every silence felt suffocating, as if a hand would reach out of the quiet and grip him by the throat, like what happened to so many Uchiha. He couldn't go a minute without thinking about their deaths…or his own.

Whenever his Sharingan activated, he could _see_ and he could also _remember_. But it never happened by his choice. On off on off on...off on...off...on…

( _Bright lights bright sky bright leaves and the stained ceilings and stiff doctors and floating dust mites but he could see it all before it happened and why couldn't he_ stop it)

And now he was drowning. His Sharingan had activated once again—every current pushing left, right, down… His eyes made everything so damn _clear_ , but his mind was muddled and his body lethargic.

His arms drifted feebly through the water and his feet gave half-hearted kicks—possibly just out of instinct or habit at this point—but he inevitably and slowly began to sink. His eyelids started to shut, but he hadn't let go of his breath just yet.

Sasuke was used to falling every time he thought he made it a little farther. But who was left to see him get to the top now? What would he even find if he eventually succeeded?

( _Not as if anyone was waiting for him back at that place, anyway._ )

Suddenly, yellow and orange streaked through his muddled vision.

Habit—life—fear— _something_ compelled him to haul himself up. When he felt himself slipping, he yanked at the collar of the blond idiot and dragged him along the way as well. Luckily, his hand caught onto one of the dock legs, which he used to heave himself up until the two boys were both floundering at the water's surface and coughing up slightly polluted lake water. By the time either of them had more air in their lungs than water, the sun had taken the opportunity to run away like a complete coward, leaving the two idiots splashing around in the dark in a deserted corner of Konohagakure.

A bright head of yellow hair moved in the corner of his eye, the idiot attempting to float on his own, if the petulant "Hmph!" he made when he tore out of Sasuke's grip was any indication— _that dobe—_

Naruto made a wild grab at the dock leg, but only managed to snag Sasuke's shirt, which sent the two boys tumbling back into the water together.

Sasuke heaved an angry sigh bef—shit shit bad idea underwater—

He kicked his legs around a little wildly. Shit—what kind of ninja doesn't know how to swim?!

Well, he was doubly disadvantaged, as his legs were currently stuck on a freaking idiot who was flailing like a fish out of water (while very clearly in the water). And to top it all off, he was pretty sure some actual fish just swam into his shirt _oh gross_ —

When both boys finally managed to bob back up for air, Sasuke was tempted to dunk the idiot's head back down. Would have served him right, the moron.

"Nice going, dobe," Sasuke gritted out.

"I meant to do that, but you got in the way of my graceful somersaults!"

"Your somersaults got in the way of my musing!"

"Well you weren't just moose-ing, whatever weird shit that is. You just gave up!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. Did Naruto know what had gone through his mind earlier?

"You ran away before we could have a rematch, so I was using my sneaky ninja abilities to ambush you." Naruto tilted his head up with a smug look.

When he was met with silence, he glanced back at Sasuke to see him already at the bank of the lake and slowly dragging himself from the water and up the hill.

"OI! Teme! I'm talking to you!"

"Talk to my ass, dobe!"

"You think you can reach the top before me? Well, I'll just beat you to it!"

Naruto scrambled a bit, tumbling back into the water a few times until he managed to waddle himself over to the hillside, right beside Sasuke, who merely scoffed and continued his laborious climb back onto dry land.

If Sasuke turned around, he might've seen the devious grin on Naruto's face before the boy grabbed onto the hem of the Uchiha's shirt and sent both of them tumbling back underwater.

Sasuke took some very bitter, angry satisfaction at seeing the idiot choke as he tried to laugh underwater. But the corner of his lips _maybe_ twitched upwards a little as well.

Neither boy knew how much time had passed as they continued to tussle and throw each other into the lake in their attempts to race for an imaginary finish line. For just that hour, they forgot the world where other people existed only a mile away, and nothing was left to stop them from later collapsing to the ground in exhaustion and laughter.

...

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he stood at Sasuke's front door. He handed to the glowering sick boy the lecture notes Iruka made him deliver as punishment for deliberately trying to skip class that morning.

"Hey, at least now you know it's not a good idea to sleep in wet clothes."

The little Uchiha's glare got darker. Staring at the perfectly healthy boy, he decided Naruto was a freak of nature.

"You better not fall behind because of some sniffles, teme. When you get back, be ready for that rematch!" The blond grinned widely before turning around and strolling away, waving goodbye over his shoulder.

Learn more from him, huh?

* * *

End of Chapter.

A/N: Rejected words for Itachi (as replacement for "fascinating"): crackerjack, a-okay, hunky dory, rad, wicked, cool, wicked cool, tolerable, cat's pajamas, super-duper, solid, super, angelic, pulchritudinous, sexy, believable, mediocre, _meh_.

According to Google, "Usuratonkachi is Japanese for 'thin hammer.'" Calling someone by that name implies they are useless like a thin hammer would be. I always wondered about that word, so now I know.

For anyone still confused, the "single spoken word" mentioned in the summary is indeed Itachi's "fascinating," as stupid as it sounds. I thought it was just subtle enough to be the start of the chain reaction that founds this story.

Note from Miranda: The "single spoken word" is, in my eyes, "about" from Itachi's quote, "...perhaps you can become his friend and learn a little more about him." Sasuke misremembers this as "learn a little more _from_ him." That's it.

Reader interpretation, then?


	2. The Graduality of Recovery

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (Shippuden) or any of its characters or plot.

Summary: Everyone notices something that Naruto and Sasuke don't, until it's beat into their heads. Their teachers are at the very least happy for them.

* * *

 **Chapter Two: Uchiha Sasuke and the Graduality of Recovery**

"After Iruka informed me of your altercation with Naruto last week, I realized that the appropriate course of action is to have you train the use of your Sharingan. I understand that these past few weeks have been emotionally taxing for you, interfering with the control of your eyes. I've arranged for a jounin to visit you between his missions to give you exercises and advice."

From his seat in front of the Hokage's desk, Sasuke's eyes widened.

"There's another Uchiha?" Before the boy could jump up out of excitement, the old man quickly responded, regretting his approach on the conversation.

"No, I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. This man is not an Uchiha." Sasuke's face fell and his eyes lowered to the ground. "But he does possess the Sharingan."

This startled Sasuke into looking back up, but before he could speak again, there was a knock on the door.

The Hokage gazed past Sasuke to the closed doors and replied, "Come in," smiling kindly as the newcomer let himself in.

"Yo."

Sasuke's head snapped towards the doorway, where a tall man with a shock of grey-white hair on his head and a mask covering half his face strolled into the room. His hitai-ate was pulled (rather ludicrously) over one eye, leaving only a fourth of his face visible. He walked with a natural sense of lazy respectability. While the man made his way over to the Hokage, his eye never left Sasuke.

Sasuke never shifted his own stare from the man.

"Sasuke-kun, this is Hatake Kakashi. He will be overseeing your training of the Sharingan." The Hokage spoke with a level of authority, conveying—

"I don't have a choice," Sasuke said bluntly.

The old man briefly closed his eyes and heaved a soft sigh, knowing Sasuke would notice. Nothing could escape his eyes as they were.

"Would you rather your eyes remain like that all the time?" Kakashi asked with a hint of mock surprise.

The Uchiha boy shot a glare at the man. "I don't need some _outsider_ to teach me! How do you even have the Sharingan?"

Kakashi merely raised his single visible eyebrow.

"Although he may not be an Uchiha," Hiruzen started, "Kakashi is highly trained in the Sharingan eye. He has copied over one thousand unique jutsu with his Sharingan, and he's known throughout the lands as 'Kakashi of the Sharingan' because of his prowess. He is also one of my most trusted shinobi. You have my word that Kakashi is the best teacher you can find for this task, and quite possibly for anything else."

Each of the Hokage's praises was said with strong sincerity and conviction in the hopes that Sasuke's own suspicions would waver. Surely enough, the boy glanced at the strange man again, hesitant curiosity instead of blatant distrust now on his face.

"Oh, Hokage-sama!" Kakashi drawled overdramatically. "I didn't know you had so much faith in me! You're making me tear up." The man wiped an imaginary tear from his _covered_ eye. "Rest assured I will willingly give my life for you, no matter the challenge."

The Hokage leveled Kakashi with an unamused look and slowly replied, "Then again, who knows how reliable such a clown of a grown man can be. We'd probably be better off with a random genin training you."

"I agree," Sasuke announced without hesitation. "Let's chase him out."

"Ara," Kakashi groused, eye twitching slightly in annoyance, his over dramatic facade gone without a trace. "Wasn't I called here for a reason, Hokage-sama?"

"Ah, yes. Sasuke-kun?" he prompted.

The two adults of the room refocused on the young Uchiha, who was unaware that the two adults had purposefully distracted him from his dead mood with some silly antics. He quickly schooled any hint of amusement into a skeptical look. "Show me your Sharingan," he ordered, as if he wasn't the weakest one in the room.

Kakashi looked at the disrespectful brat for a moment, but lifted his hitai-ate to reveal a set of three black tomoe on a blood-red iris.

The boy stared at the eye with his own Sharingan for a moment in barely concealed astonishment. "It's real," he breathed, before scowling as he exclaimed, "But you can't deactivate it yourself either, can you?" He pinned Kakashi with an accusatory glare.

The only reaction he got was a mild shrug of the shoulders as Kakashi replied, "Well, that's to be expected from a non-Uchiha. You, on the other hand…" He shook his head in mock disappointment. "Tsk tsk. You'll probably need a lot of work."

Sasuke jumped up from his seat and faced the man, no longer able to hide his anger. The Hokage just leaned back in his chair, smoking his pipe and letting the scene in front of him play out.

He wondered if Kakashi was doing his "look underneath the underneath" bit again or if he simply found enjoyment in provoking the boy.

"And how would _you_ know anything about work? I bet someone pitied you and gave you their eye because they knew you'd suck without it! Well I hope you get some nasty disease from incorrectly implanting that eye!"

Kakashi pulled a single folded piece of paper out of his pocket, ignoring the rambling insults and threats the little Uchiha kept jabbing at him. He cut the boy off mid-sentence when he presented the paper to him. Sasuke paused for a second before he warily took it. "Don't open the paper until you're at home. You'll find instructions on how best to activate and deactivate the Sharingan. I'll visit sometime eventually after you gain proper control." With that, Kakashi disappeared in a dramatic swirl of leaves and wind, even though all the windows of the office were shut tight due to the winter winds.

"Hn. Show off."

The Hokage chuckled. "Maybe he's just trying to impress you." His tone turned somber. "After all, when he served in Anbu, he got along well with your brother and often heard stories about you."

Sasuke looked quite taken aback—expression painted with just a small, lingering hint of pain—at this revelation with his eyebrows rising up. As Sasuke stared intently at the paper in his hand, Hiruzen felt his hope mingle with relief. Maybe this young lonely boy will be able to give Kakashi a chance.

…

 _Step One: Take a deep breath._

 _Step Two: Close your eyes._

 _(;_

* * *

Sasuke immediately ripped the paper into shreds, set the pieces aflame, and let the ashes scatter in the wind outside his bedroom window. Due to the unhelpfulness of the instructions, his Sharingan was still activated, so it wasn't like he'd forget what was written anyway.

Somewhere between the the front door and the clan cemetery, Sasuke's Sharingan activated and no amount of blinking or hyperventilating would make it go away. Instead, he kept his eyes downcast.

The Hokage and five ninjas led the way, all respectfully clothed in funeral garb. They walked with the dignified solemnity that spoke of years of psychological training.

(Three of them walked in sync together, demonstrating years of Anbu experience in a squadron together. Every motion was echoed by the other two as they carried the ashes of the fourth member of their team.)

Sixty-four Uchihas were cremated and placed into separate black wooden urns, with a photo of the deceased placed behind each box, carried on a platform that was lifted by the leading procession. An altar holding two candles and a few scrolls containing wills sat behind the platform. A few stolen glances had already etched the memory into his mind, quite possibly permanently. Even with his eyes shut tight, he could recall each detail—of course he could, with these fucking eyes—and he could remember all the faces in the photographs looking back at him.

He paused when he found the most familiar faces of his mother, father, and brother. Though they all seemed to be smiling, Sasuke saw the darkness in their eyes. In his mother's he saw deep sadness that Sasuke was not with them. In his father's he found unrelenting disappointment that Sasuke was not there to bravely fight against the mysterious foe and had instead survived like a coward. In his brother's he saw hate, the same hate he threw at cousins Inabi, Satoshi, and Kentaro and the entire clan when they accused Itachi of killing Shisui. He quickly tore his eyes away before he could collapse under the weight of his own self-loathing.

He didn't need a second glance anyway.

Instead, he grit his teeth and took a breath—shaky, of course he's shaky; he couldn't even breathe right, how stupid—and another breath and another and another but no more after that because each breath was getting shallower and he was close to choking.

( _Choking, choking—that hand reaching out towards him, every night—_ )

Numerous small holes on the ground stared back. No one would even notice if there were one more.

( _Hands reaching for his eyes. Sometimes, for just a second—_

 _He'd let them._ )

A hand suddenly gripped his tiny shoulder and his eyes shot open. He felt the smallest amount of gratitude that Kakashi did not speak or offer a look of pity. But all the same, Sasuke turned his head away and continued to look forward.

The ninjas carrying the platform gently placed it on the prearranged ceremonial dais, proudly emblazoned with the clan crest.

The Hokage spoke mourning words then took a step forward, pausing to wave away the nearest ninja's assistance. Seven steps later, he stood beside the candle on the altar, gently lighting it with a match. Eleven steps more, he had lit both fire stands on either side of the altar. Another nine steps and he stood right beside Sasuke, providing what strength he could as Hokage.

Nothing but the howling wind was left to Sasuke's senses. He knew the old man expected him to fill the emptiness with his own words, but what could he say? Nothing was worthy enough for those who were all wrongfully killed. Not while he still lived. The Hokage eventually understood Sasuke's prolonged silence and continued his speech.

When he spoke again, his voice was softer, hoarser; the dignified and powerful manner that underlied every action was gone. Instead, he transformed into an old, frail man who lost his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren; an old man who had outlived far too many in his family. Sasuke vaguely noted that he'd seen this aging soul too often recently.

The old man went on, speaking of Sasuke's cousins, uncles, great-aunts, and grandparents. He fought in this war. She started this business. They traveled to these places.

Sasuke wished he could shut his ears in the same way he could shut his eyes. What good was all this rambling? He knew these families. He knew their stories and their lives, cut short and burned up and packed into those little wooden boxes so they were nothing more than crumbled remains of—

They didn't exist anymore.

After all, there was no one to give him treats as he walked to the Academy. No one to make sure his walk from the compound gates to his house was a safe one. No one to welcome him home once he walked inside.

And no one to humor him when he asked to be trained or poke his forehead when excuses needed to be made.

( _Itachi's face, usually slightly upturned in an easy smile, marred and bloody and empty—_ )

Sasuke's fists clenched at his sides.

Who was it? Who was the one that took everything from him and was probably laughing at the misery and pain that was left in the wake of death? Or did they even know that they missed an Uchiha when they left the compound?

…Will they come back for him?

Sasuke hadn't realized how fast his heart was racing or how quickly he was attempting to inhale the cold air until the hand on his shoulder squeezed gently. However, it didn't stop him from shaking slightly at the thought of going back to his house alone with no one nearby to protect him.

One by one, the five other people present—including Kakashi, Sasuke barely noted when the warmth beside him disappeared—picked up a little black urn and placed it in the ground before lighting a candle on the platform. They rotated amongst themselves thirteen times—for there weren't enough attendees compared to the deceased—until no urns remained and all the candles were lit.

With final parting words to the sixty-four lost Uchihas, the Hokage pulled himself up once again to the stature of a ninja. The other five filed themselves accordingly behind him as he led the way back out. But, before he left, he placed a gentle hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Sasuke-kun," he said. Stated.

Sasuke didn't reply, opting instead to stare at the smooth patch of dirt in front of him.

He heard a gentle sigh and felt the hand squeeze his shoulder lightly before the six sets of footsteps began again and eventually faded.

And Sasuke was alone.

…

Later that evening, Sasuke was back in his house, rummaging through the low cupboards of the kitchen. He didn't want to eat, but the last meal he had was breakfast the day before. His body simply wouldn't let him ignore it any longer.

Sasuke grimaced as his stomach twinged again, grabbing at cans of obscure-sounding ingredients, hoping there was some Kanberu's Chicken Ramen mixed in there somewhere.

When twenty minutes of sifting and sorting through dozens of heavy cans brought back nothing he could eat, he threw a can at the wall in frustration. It dented upon impact—both the can and the wall—but that didn't stop another pang of hunger from coming. The can started leaking shiitake mushroom juice all over the floor. He sneered in disgust, but… Well, it was something to eat.

Grabbing chopsticks and the can, Sasuke pried the lid open and took a bite—

—and immediately spit it out. Absolutely _revolting_.

Irritated, Sasuke threw his chopsticks down and tossed the can in the garbage. He walked back over to the pantry and peered at its highest shelf, where he knew to be the ingredients to make simple onigiri. It was possibly the only "dish" he could make on his own, but Okaa-san was always the one to reach for the foodstuffs and place it on the counter for him. And now, Sasuke had only his own meager height to rely on, which wasn't much.

Finally giving in and feeling disheartened, he gently closed the pantry doors and left the kitchen. The only option left was to order dinner.

The sky was dark and the air was chilly as Sasuke walked down the street, slightly grateful that some villagers were stubborn enough to stay out despite the weather. He could hear distinct chatter and carefree civilian footsteps around him.

( _Silent and dark and hands and eyes—_ )

He glanced up at some of the passersby, who gave a small pitying smile back, but not a single word.

They had their own families to get home to.

Sasuke wasn't sure how long he wandered aimlessly, but he was all too aware that he was ready to pass out from hunger and exhaustion. Almost, if it weren't for the heavenly warm smell wafting to his nose.

The aroma led him to a modest ramen stand, one that he walked by in the past, but never visited.

He approached the orange glow of the stand's lanterns and pushed aside the overhanging cloths. A kind old man bid him a good evening and Sasuke responded in kind as he gazed to the side.

An all too familiar blond sat upon a stool slurping away at his noodles and broth. In between bites, he turned and Sasuke felt a sense of wonder from the eyes that were as clear of judgment and pity as they were blue.

Sasuke smiled.

* * *

Iruka wasn't quite sure when it happened. The earliest he could trace it back, when he strained himself to understand it, was when he taught the lesson on tactical advantages and efficiency.

"Every moment of energy you conserve is an advantage," he taught. "If you don't control your chakra well, you'll end up misdirecting a fair amount and wasting it, which can be a fatal mistake when you're on a mission, particularly against opponents who have proper control over their chakra. Moreover, every bit of chakra you conserve can be used later on. Restraining yourself just a little can add up and be what ultimately wins the battle.

"Think about it like this." He grinned, making his way to the desk at the front of the class that held a small bag and a scale with a small rock on one plate and nothing on the other. He reached into the bag, grabbing a handful of rice. "This rock is your opponent—"

"Seeeeenseeeeei, why the hell are we fighting rocks? We're ninjas, not idiots!" Kiba whined from the back of the class.

"You're probably both," Ino drawled from nearby.

"Kiba! Ino! No interruptions during class," Iruka yelled at the two, who immediately stopped the next retorts already on their tongues. "Kiba, this is a metaphor. The rock _represents_ your opponent."

"Ooooh!" Kiba said, intrigued. Iruka took this as a sign that he wouldn't interrupt anymore, and so continued.

"For every bit of chakra you manage to conserve, think of it as a grain of rice." He let a single grain fall from his hand and onto the empty plate on the scale. "It doesn't seem like much—the rock doesn't even move, right? But let's add another." He let another grain fall. "And another. And another. Has the rock moved yet? No, but we'll just keep adding more grains."

"Seeeeeenseeeeeei, this is taking too long!" Kiba whined again.

"Another interruption and we'll have a word with your mother, Kiba," Iruka gritted out. The boy snapped his mouth shut. "As I was saying, every little bit counts. As you continuously add little bits, you tip the scales in your favor." He let the grains of rice fall in a gradual stream from his hand until the plate of rice fell, finally heavier than the rock.

In the corner of his eye, he saw an outstretched hand. "Yes, Shikamaru?"

"Your metaphor makes no sense."

 _Breathe, Iruka._ "What part of it do you have questions about, Shikamaru?"

"Everything. Why is your opponent a rock when you're nothing? Why doesn't the opponent get grains of rice, too? And would a rice grain just be a single chakra? Because that's not how you measure chakra," he drawled.

Beside him, Choji perked up. "Are we having a second lunch today? Maybe some rice dishes?"

"Yay! More food!" Yamada cheered.

"Pft," Naruto scoffed. "We're not talking about rice dishes! You're so stupid."

Inwardly, Iruka gave a soul-draining sigh. Outwardly, he said, "Alright, Naruto, would you like to explain the concept, then?"

The immediate appearance of wide eyes told him something between "NO" and "OH SHIT." He gave another inward sigh—

And he heard an outward sigh. Next to Naruto, Sasuke had a look of long-suffering that Iruka felt. "Sasuke, would you like to help him out?"

Sasuke straightened up automatically before answering, "You were talking about conservation of energy. The more energy you conserve, the more it adds up, until you can eventually tip the scales in your favor."

"Correct," Iruka said. "The energy in question here is chakra. Continuing on, every bit of chakra that you misdirect is like a grain of rice that doesn't land in the scale." He illustrated this by letting a few grains of rice fall on the table. "That adds up as well." He let a steady stream fall until a considerable pile had formed. "This could've added an advantage to your side, had you used it well, but it becomes a waste instead. Understood?"

He caught indifferent nods all around and a few enthusiastic ones—and a snore from Shikamaru, who seemed to have fallen asleep—and saw Naruto shooting a sheepish glance at Sasuke, who simply rolled his eyes.

On that day, Iruka dismissed the oddity, focused instead on waking up Shikamaru so they could move onto the tactical side of the lesson. But that day remained the one that stuck to his memory, like spiderwebs had tangled it with other important ideas and moments.

He remembered a particular instant a week later—two weeks later? Ahh, around a week and a half, since they'd moved on to a different lesson—when he saw Sasuke and Naruto leave together after class one day, headed in the same direction. He'd dismissed that, too, and hadn't even noticed when that became regular.

But those little things added up.

Naruto wasn't alone when he was in the park anymore.

Sasuke met others' eyes.

The two boys had a claimed spot at lunch.

Their sparring matches were underscored with a familiarity of the others' moves.

The two young faces were graced with a smile every once in awhile.

Iruka had completely missed when their steps and actions started to synchronize and complement, until one day he walked into Ichiraku Ramen and saw two little kids seated at the front.

(Somewhere along the way, the scales tipped away from loneliness.)

He decided to eat at home that evening.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Naruto, I don't have any orange clothes and I'm not going to help you buy any either."

"Blasphemy!"

"Learning new words isn't going to change my mind. Now take the clothes I _am_ giving you so you don't freeze your butt off when it starts snowing!"

Naruto absolutely could not understand how anyone could have such bland fashion sense. Or maybe it was just Sasuke? Literally all of his warm clothing was white, blue, and black! The only other splash of color came from the funny looking fan on the back of all the shirts.

"Hey, Sasuke. What's this fan for? Does it mean something?" he asked his friend as he ripped out a long strip of orange duct tape he happily found in the corner of his bedroom.

Sasuke glanced over to the shirt dangling from Naruto's hand. His eyes downcast, he answered. "It's the symbol of my clan: the Uchiha Clan."

"Yeah? Well why is it a fan?"

It was actually fascinating to Naruto that a whole group of people could be connected by something as simple as a name and an image. What was so special about it? Was it because they were all family? Did Konoha have other clans? What were their symbols?

Naruto asked all this and more, getting more excited by the second as Sasuke begrudgingly answered him, but eventually even the Uchiha looked more relaxed and invested in teaching his friend.

(Thankfully, it also distracted Sasuke from Naruto's task of duct taping all of his newly donated clothing. Like hell he was going to forgo his favorite color!)

* * *

"Pst! Sasuke! Who's the weirdo hiding behind that orange book?"

Kakashi was glad (as he always was) that he constantly wore a mask over his face, allowing him to hide his shameful blush that the first time he met his sensei's son was while he was reading pornagraphic material in public. (But it was simply too good to put down!) He was slightly mollified though that the boys peeking out from behind a building were probably clueless to the contents of his book.

"Idiot! You're not being sneaky at all! You're a terrible ninja-in-training!"

Well, to be fair, Sasuke wasn't demonstrating the best stealth at the moment either. But using the boys' argument as a distraction, Kakashi was able to tuck his book away before the children could "sneak" over and take a closer look.

"Is there something I can do for you two?"

It never got old, messing with civilians and non-shinobi. Kakashi watched amusedly as the boys jolted in surprise and fell to the ground on top of one another.

Sasuke kicked lightly at Naruto as he got up and brushed himself off. With as much amateur dignity as he could muster, he jutted his chin out and demanded that Kakashi teach him that day.

"I would be glad to pass my knowledge on to you, Sasuke, but I can't instruct you very well until you get the hang of your eyes. That's something that you have to figure out for yourself."

"What? Eyes? Teme, are you going blind or something?"

"Teach me something else, then," the Uchiha responded, ignoring Naruto's pestering questions.

"And what did you have in mind?"

"Oi! What's Sasuke have to do with his eyes?"

Kakashi expressed a friendly smile through his visible eye at Naruto, having a feeling the blond wouldn't make it that easy to ignore him. He had such a loud personality, quite reminiscent of his mother.

Sasuke struggled to cover Naruto's motor-mouth long enough to answer his mentor.

"Is there an Uzumaki Clan?"

Ahh, so that's what it was. A quick glance at Naruto and Kakashi came to some rough conclusions. Together, these boys were going to ask some interesting questions and discover even stranger truths.

He smiled through his mask once more and mysteriously answered, "Yes, there was," and promptly made his exit in a torrent of leaves.

"Agh! Where'd he get all these green leaves in the middle of winter?!"

"That Baka-kashi! He hardly told us anything!"

His book open once more, Kakashi walked away giggling.

* * *

The flat surfaces of dark grey marble reflected the sunlight back at Kakashi's face as he stood in front of the Memorial Stone. For almost ten years, he had followed the rules of this routine, unwilling to disobey, as if he had never escaped the strictures of shinobi that ended up killing his father. But what else could Kakashi have done?

His father…his teacher…his teammates…his failures…his disappointments…

He never liked to remember, but he would hate it more to forget. The monument was the anchor that grounded him, lest he sway too far to either side.

But now Kakashi found himself drifting off the ground of sanity and purpose. For the past several years, he never had the right sense of closure, yet he was never able to figure out how to fix it. It wasn't until the end of his most recent mission did he understand.

He was part of a team of three sent to deliver some semi-important messages to the Daimyo of the Land of Forests, where Kusagakure—the Grass Village—was located. With the country lying right in between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, it was safest to travel with a highly capable team lest there was a run-in with Iwa-nin, so a Hyuuga had been assigned along with Kakashi. The last Shinobi World War was not all that long ago, and tensions between Iwa and Konoha never exactly died down. Kakashi was just fine with that, as he partly blamed Iwa for the beginning of all his tragedies, as immature as it was.

The jounin knew never to let his emotions hinder him from a mission, but as soon as the messages were delivered and the team headed back toward the Land of Fire, Kakashi couldn't help but request a brief detour. The two chuunin with him could easily guess where their leader wanted to go, having fought in the war as well. They quickly agreed, probably hoping that Kakashi would find what he thought might relieve his lingering grief.

Running past the crumbled remains of Kannabi Bridge, the group soon found themselves at the entrance of a collapsed cave, vegetation starting to form around it due to time. The chuunin remained back when Kakashi walked up to the fallen rocks, but straightened in surprise when he waved them over. He had the Hyuuga use his Byakugan to scan beneath the stones as far as he could until he found what could only be Kakashi's old teammate.

Bringing Obito's confirmed remains back to Konoha and holding a Will of Fire ceremony lifted an unknown weight from Kakashi's being.

In Konoha, whenever a shinobi—active or retired—passed on, it was tradition to cremate the body on a pyre decorated by family, friends, and fellow comrades. The cremation signifies that even in death and the destruction of the physical body, the soul of the shinobi continues to exist in the Will of Fire, passed on to future generations. The practical reason for cremations is to prevent grave robbers from pilfering any secret techniques, should they succeed in reaching the bodies.

Minato-sensei, Kushina-san, and Rin were given a ceremony and pyre, and even his dishonorable father was cremated at the very least.

Maybe Kakashi's unrest all these years stemmed from the awareness that Obito never officially passed on his own Will of Fire. That boy was always a sucker for such grandiose legacy stories.

But now that Obito could finally rest peacefully, what was Kakashi to do?

He would continue to serve his precious village until the day he fell in battle, but what of his own self-given purpose? Didn't everyone need a personal reason to wake up each morning and put smiles on their faces? Kakashi wanted to yell out to the heavens and ask his sensei and teammates for guidance once more.

"Baka-kashi!"

( _…Obito?_ )

"Kakashi!"

Swiftly pulled out of his thoughts, Kakashi turned his head and saw his persistent tag-alongs emerge from the thicket of trees. The boys shoved at each other as they both raced to his side, probably unaware of the bright smiles they sported.

( _Minato-sensei's son…and Obito's relative…_ )

"You promised to show us some of your moves today."

"Yeah! Don't think you can show up late this time, because we found you first!"

( _Call me a fool, but…maybe you're giving me a second chance with these two?_ )

"Ahh, but I also gave you a meeting point. We can't begin until we've reached our destination."

( _Looking at them, I see lonely kids who somehow find reasons to be happy. Children are hopeful like that._ )

"What?! That's cheating!"

"Hmph. That's why he's Baka-kashi."

"But…since I'm on my way to test a new group of almost-genin, why don't you follow along and be late with me? Just don't let yourselves be seen. Think of it as training."

"Hell yeah!"

"…Okay."

( _I'm a lonely child, too._ )

* * *

A man with short orange hair and purple ringed eyes gazed stoically at the mask before him.

"And what is your name?"

A small breeze blew through the cavern and rustled the ends of the masked man's black hair.

"Call me Tobi."

* * *

 _Four Years Later_

"Hokage-sama, it's terrible! Someone has drawn elaborate seals all over Hokage Mountain!"

"Hokage-sama, please summon Jiraiya-sama! None of our shinobi can decipher the purpose of the seals!"

"Hokage-sama, what do we do?!"

The Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village stood at the window of his office, gazing at the vast Hokage Mountain face that loomed over the citizens walking down market streets and neighborhood paths. In his left hand, he held a pipe that he put to his lips in a deliberately slow manner.

"Hokage-sama…?"

Hiruzen lowered the pipe, gave a long exhale, and closed his eyes, allowing the smoke to gather and quickly disperse.

Finally, he grumbled an almost exasperated reply. "They're fake."

Confused murmuring sounded around the room. The old man waited to see if any of his ninja would figure it out on their own. Unfortunately, the people around him consisted of old genin and newly-made chuunin who mainly filed paperwork and ran small errands around the village. It was doubtful any of them had much more than basic knowledge of seals.

When it became clear that no one put two and two together, Hiruzen answered them with a sigh.

"It looks like this is the most successful prank Naruto-kun has pulled off in months."

The Hokage ignored the indignant shouts that erupted upon the realization that all of the previously panicking ninja had been so easily fooled and he continued. "It's also amazing how much interest he holds in sealing jutsu. If he had the knowledge and resources to properly create and draw seals, our village could be in great danger right now. I wonder how it is that all of the boy's work went unnoticed until after its completion?"

Some people squirmed, feeling awkward and ashamed. It was quite the embarrassment to be outsmarted by a twelve year old Academy student. No one said anything and Hiruzen gave a single nod, satisfied that his shinobi learned a valuable lesson that day. Age and inexperience were lame excuses to underestimate one's opponent.

"I'll have Iruka take care of Naruto's punishment. Think carefully about the problems that arose today. You're all dismissed."

…

 _One sharp shuriken. Two sharp shuriken. Three sharp shuriken. Four sharp shuriken._

Sasuke kept his mental counting in pace with the ticking of the clock on the classroom wall as he timed how long this lecture would take. He had learned long ago how to drown out the voices of his obnoxiously loud best friend and their equally loud teacher whenever they argued over something Naruto did.

He was startled when Naruto slammed his hands on the table and stood up.

"How could it have been me? You saw I was in class the whole day!"

Iruka's angry stance didn't waver. In fact, he seemed to become even more incensed to get Naruto to confess. "I've known since long ago to expect anything from you, Naruto. You may fail most of your tests and you're simply hopeless with theory as opposed to practice—"

"Oi! Sensei!"

"—but I know you're also a clever one. Sadly, all your smarts seem to show for is trouble."

Hn, looked like Iruka was trying the shame and guilt tactic this time. Brutal. Sasuke hoped Naruto wouldn't be wallowing in misery later because they were supposed to meet up with Kakashi for one final ninja lesson before their graduation exam. However, Sasuke realized the lecture might last longer than usual when the classroom door opened and a jounin strode in with a hand firmly holding the wrist of a sheepish Naruto.

Iruka could only gape in disbelief before swatting the first Naruto over the head. A cloud of smoke appeared where the blond dispelled.

"A shadow clone?!" Iruka practically shrieked. He then abruptly turned to Sasuke, who straightened himself casually, hoping his worry and fear didn't show.

"Sasuke, you're my last resort, but you're the top student and you've always been well behaved. I need you to get through to Naruto for me and let him know of his mistakes so he can learn from them."

Sasuke nodded in complete understanding. He turned to the original Naruto.

"Dobe. If your original self came to class while a shadow clone of you painted the mountain, the clone could have dispelled after it finished. You'd have left no traces of your presence and never gotten caught." He shook his head and tsked. "Sloppy."

"SASUKE!"

* * *

Iruka breathed a sigh of relief when he finally sat down in his armchair with a hot cup of tea. It was a long day, considering he was testing his students (no, not _his_ students anymore) on their graduation exams. A tired but proud smile appeared on his face at the thought that all of them managed to pass, even if by the skin of their teeth.

His greatest joy came from Naruto's success, and he knew he had Sasuke and Kakashi to thank. It was the luckiest coincidence that Naruto could use the Shadow Clone Jutsu as a substitute for the Clone Jutsu.

Just as he was about to get ready for bed, there was a frantic knocking on his door. He opened it to find Kotetsu, out of breath and disheveled.

Kotetsu had barely managed to wheeze out, "Naruto and Sasuke stole the Forbidden—!" before Iruka was redressed in his chuunin uniform and prepared to search for the boys.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he questioned, probably rhetorically, as he was already jumping away, Kotetsu right on his heels. "I'll report to Hokage-sama!"

"Right!" Kotetsu shouted in confirmation, and leapt away to find his partner.

Iruka reached the roof of the Hokage Tower in no time at all and landed before the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, what happened?"

The Third stood with his back straight and hands clasped behind his back. He continued to roam his eyes over the village as he answered Iruka. "It was a wonderful team effort. While Naruto-kun, ehem, distracted me for a considerable time, Sasuke-kun managed to sneak through our rather poor security and snatched the Forbidden Scroll of Seals before both boys made a run for it. I am yet again heavily disappointed that some ninjas in my village haven't learned their lesson on underestimating young opponents." He heaved a heavy sigh, somewhere between a disappointed parent and a beleaguered leader.

Iruka almost responded before he did a mental double-take. Here the old man was, talking about underestimating some kids, but didn't he fall for their tricks as well? He wouldn't dare accuse his leader of such things out loud, but instead settled for a deadpan stare.

"An absolute shame, yes."

The Hokage cleared his throat and continued. "I've sent all available chuunin within the village on the search. We cannot have an enemy get their hands on that scroll. I have been tracking the boys' movements with the All-Seeing Ball and have most ninjas surrounding the area at a mile radius. I want you to break into the circle and speak with the boys. But Iruka," he stopped the younger man from leaping off in a hurry, "there is one chuunin I did not account for. I suspect he has betrayed the village."

"Who is it?"

…

"You," Sasuke declared with an air of authoritative definiteness, "are absolutely shameless."

Naruto simply gave a shit-eating grin in response, completely unrepentant and, well, shameless.

"What can I say? I'm a genius! The Sexy no Jutsu was a great success!"

Sasuke held a look as if someone had just spit on his nose.

"Don't even think about it," Naruto scoffed. "You'll only hurt yourself, trying to understand my brilliance."

Heaving a sigh, Sasuke just turned around and examined the impractically large scroll in front of him. "Your absolute disrespect to the very idea of shinobi and stealth aside, at least this scroll can get us out of yet another test. Gods know you barely had it in you to pass the first time. A second time will slay your ninja career."

"Ugh, back off, we got the scroll, didn't we?" Naruto groaned. "Come on, teme, what's it say? Or don't you know how to read?"

"Don't conflate me with your own ignorance." The blank stare he received in return made him scoff. "Yeah, I thought so."

"Just read it already! I had to play decoy for an old pervert because of this thing!"

"Fine. At least keep a look out to make sure we aren't being chased. Stealing scrolls from the Hokage Tower probably won't be looked on very lightly," Sasuke pointed out as he activated his Sharingan.

"No way!" Naruto said, crossing his arms petulantly.

Sasuke stared back, flabbergasted. "What? Why not?!"

"You think I'm gonna let you learn all the cool moves by yourself?! You'd never teach them to me and then you'll make fun of me for not knowing them! 'Cause you're an asshole! So I should be the one looking at the scroll and learning the moves and then _you_ will get the honor of learning them from me if you do a good job as a lookout."

Sasuke continued staring. "You," he declared, "are shameless."

"What? Upset that I figured out your plans and got the better of you?"

"...Does being this stupid hurt? Do you dread waking up in the morning, faced with a day full of stupid? Or are you really this shamelessly stupid, parading your stupid around like the imaginary boobs you used to distract the stupid old man?"

"Hey, fuck you! They weren't imaginary! I'm not some amateur!"

"NARUTO! SASUKE!"

"Aaaaand of course your stupid manages to get us caught."

"Oi! Don't blame this on me, teme! Aren't you supposed to be the super sneaky one?! How come we got caught then, eh?!"

"Oh, maybe it's because you look like an orange bullseye? Because you're louder than a hyena in heat? Because you have about as much subtlety as a drunk elephant?"

"You know, for someone who people think's all quiet and shit, you're a mouthy judgmental asshole sometimes, you know that?"

"You two," Iruka started, "are in so much trouble that I'd probably get fired if I were still your teacher."

"Ugh, come oooooooooon, Iruka-sensei," Naruto whined. "Isn't me being stuck with this asshole punishment enough for me?"

"This was Naruto's idea," Sasuke stated bluntly.

"I don't care whose idea this is!" Iruka snarled. "You two deliberately tricked the Hokage, stole a sacred scroll, humiliated village security nin, disgraced the position of a ninja—"

"They should've done a better job at their jobs, then," Naruto muttered petulantly.

"It doesn't matter! You put yourselves and everyone around you at risk! What do you think would've happened if an enemy ninja caught wind of this and decided to attack you two to steal the scroll? You would have put your own lives and your entire village's safety at risk for the sake of—of some stupid prank! I swear—you two—Did you two ever, at any point, think the consequences through? Think of the cost of your actions? Didn't I teach you better than dishonesty and selfishness?"

"Hey!" Naruto protested, obviously upset at his favorite teacher's accusations. "Dishonest? You guys wanted to put us through another test even after the hell we just went through!"

"Naruto, if that's something that the village leaders think is necessary, then you have to go through with it. Tests are a part of life, especially for a ninja. Taking the dishonorable route—cheating, lying, stealing, and fooling your own comrades—that isn't. No excuse can forgive what you two did tonight—not to the village, and certainly not to me."

"Then you and this whole village can all go to hell!" Naruto yelled back before taking off.

"H-hey! Naruto!" Iruka yelled out running towards the boy. Just as he turned, however, he heard the telltale crackle of broken branches behind him. He turned just in time to see Sasuke running in the opposite direction, carrying the Forbidden Scroll with him. He cursed under his breath before chasing after Sasuke. Of the two, Sasuke would be in more danger due to the scroll—he'd be the more likely target. ( _But Naruto's a much less adept fighter than Sasuke—Sasuke could take on chuunin ninja, but Naruto—_ )

Before he could fully make up his mind—even as his body was in a full sprint towards the nearest kid—a shuriken flew past him, scraping him just enough to alert him into dodging the three other shuriken that came in quick succession.

"You can't stop the boys, Iruka. Not when I'm stopping you here."

…

"Unbelievable," Sasuke stated, slightly out of breath. "You nearly got lost again."

Naruto merely grunted, plopping at the base of a tree as he caught his breath from escaping. Sasuke paused, giving the boy a long, considering look. Naruto merely stared at the ground, as casually as he could.

"Alright, let's see what this scroll is about, then," Sasuke declared, plopping on the ground and reactivating his Sharingan. At this, Naruto perked up slightly and settled next to Sasuke. With an almost reverent amount of care, the two boys pushed the scroll open—

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me!" Naruto yelled. "The Shadow Clone Jutsu?!"

"We went through all this trouble for a technique we've _already learned?!_ " Sasuke looked appalled at the very idea.

Before they had a chance to grumble some more, however, a rustle of leaves had the boys shooting to their feet, ready to fight and defend. They marginally relaxed when they saw their former teacher fall through the branches and land in front of them.

"Oh, hello, Mizuki-sensei."

Mizuki grinned at them. "You guys managed to get the scroll! Congrats. You guys are the only sure-fire ninjas from this year's graduating class. Now, you guys can hand me the scroll, and I'll send word to the other instructors."

"Iruka-sensei seemed pretty angry about it," Naruto said cautiously.

"Oh, it's just 'cause he's a stickler for the rules. He wanted you two to do it the old fashioned way, because everyone else is doing it that way, too. He's such a stick in the mud, am I right?"

"I'll stick _you_ six feet under the mud!"

Several shuriken flew out of nowhere and embedded themselves in the branch Mizuki was settled on, dangerously close to where the man was, had he not leapt out of the way.

"Naruto, Sasuke, don't give him the scroll!" Iruka shouted as he emerged from the bushes, blood seen dripping from scattered injuries. "Mizuki's a traitor! He's trying to steal the Sacred Scroll of Sealing! He's using you!"

"No, kids, Iruka's just trying to ruin your future as shinobi!" Mizuki yelled, in turn. "Don't listen to him! Give me the scroll!"

"I just want what's best for them! You're a traitor and a liar."

"Ha! Coming from you?" Mizuki scoffed. "You pretend to coddle them when you cozy up with a village that hates them. Who says you're any better? Fine, I _am_ betraying this village," he relented, with no regret. He then turned to the shell-shocked boys. "But can you really say that this village has been loyal to _you_? Ever since you were both young, I know you've noticed the hated stares. Before I leave, I'll do this one favor for you two. I'll tell you the secrets that this village keeps from you."

"No, Mizuki!"

…

 _(Naruto had always worn his heart on his sleeve. Every second of loneliness, every mischievous thought, every happy moment was as loud as the voice he used to speak with, just from the way he held himself._

 _The disbelief and confusion and pain that marred his face as Mizuki spoke—_

 _It screamed in Iruka's mind._

 _Sasuke, on the other hand, never showed a single emotion, unless it was to Naruto._

 _As Mizuki spoke, everything about Sasuke grew more and more silent._

 _Iruka wasn't sure which hurt more.)_

...

Naruto was frozen in shock as he watched his former teachers' back and forth. Oh, he wasn't too surprised with Mizuki's revelation. But to hear you were hated and scorned and looked at with disgust for the most unfair of reasons… What was with the people in this village?! Hating Naruto because the demon fox just so happened to be residing in _him_? Hating Sasuke because they hated and feared his family, _who all happened to die when Sasuke was just a little kid, and therefore couldn't raise him to become whatever fearsome being they were afraid of_?

But…

What if they were right to feel that way? Maybe Naruto was the demon fox itself, and maybe Sasuke possessed some hidden genetic trait that would one day make him evil.

Naruto clenched his fists. No, that sounded insane. He couldn't imagine his best friend becoming some villainous character at the flip of a switch. However, if Sasuke ever became angry, or downright furious… What did he think of these revelations? How did he feel knowing his clan, _his family_ , was always feared and hated as Naruto was?

"Shut up!" Iruka shouted suddenly, bodily bucking Mizuki far past the kids before positioning himself in between them. "These kids belong in the village more than you do! I don't give a damn what the circumstances of their birth were; they're my students, my comrades, my friends, so stay away! I won't let you lay a hand on them!"

The two chuunin resumed their fighting, a mixture of fire and water and fists and feet flying in rapid succession, but Naruto was stunned into stillness.

He only broke out of his stupor when he saw Sasuke move forward with the scroll in his arms. It seemed Naruto missed quite a bit when his thoughts were so jumbled up.

"Don't give him the scroll, Sasuke!"

Naruto reacted instinctively and reached forward to tug Sasuke back by his sleeve. ( _That uncomfortable pull was back, but he couldn't distinguish from which adult the sickly feeling came from._ ) In the split-second but meaningful glance Sasuke gave him, he knew he would have to trust his best friend. In that same instant though, both chuunin took advantage of the distraction and leapt.

And instead of running away again, the boys joined the fight as well.

…

 _(It was a remarkable feeling that came with the awareness that the person you trusted most in the world stood at your back, being your unseen protector as much as you were theirs. If this was the addicting feeling of camaraderie that shinobi experienced, it was no wonder so few of them chose to retire early.)_

…

It wasn't particularly because they were adept fighters, Iruka realized later on. Naruto's moves were very sloppy, and Sasuke was tactical, but lacked strength behind his taijutsu. No, they were genin in that regard.

But their movements, how one knew the way the other would act—it spoke of levels of experience that only the best teams could achieve. Sasuke knew how to strategize, and Naruto knew how to improvise, and they somehow meshed together seamlessly in a way that new Academy graduates in the midst of two fighting chuunin should never be able to.

But they were children still.

( _And you're their teacher, do something—_ )

A mistake from Naruto would throw Sasuke off-rhythm. A slight misfire from Sasuke just barely grazed Naruto's shoulder. In a fight between life and death, this made all the difference, and Iruka knew that.

Ultimately, it was a three-on-one battle. It may not have been an easy win, but it was an inevitable one.

Still. Every injury the kids sustained felt like a scar on his own body. Naruto's graze on the shoulder, the bruises the two gained throughout, scattershot cuts and scrapes—the worst injury was a cut Sasuke received on his hand when he was forced to parry a kunai bare-handed.

( _They're young and these scars carry forever—_ )

…

Sasuke looked at the cut on his hand. Not deep enough to be a major problem, hopefully, but it'd probably leave a scar and make using his left hand out of the question for at least a week. He glanced at his other hand, where a cut on the night of the tragedy left a permanent thin white line.

Before he could dwell on this, however, a pair of sandals lined with obnoxious orange duct tape entered his vision. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's injured hand, lips drawn tight in unhappy contemplation. He pulled out a kunai—

"OI!" Sasuke reeled back, throwing a swing at Naruto and glancing right off his already-bruised left eye.

"HEY! TEME! What the hell was that for?" Naruto growled back, clutching his swollen eye.

"That's what I was asking!" Sasuke shot back, cradling his hand to his chest. "What're you trying to do, dobe?!"

"What'd you call me?!" Naruto yelled.

"A dobe! How the hell are you even trusted with a pencil, much less a kunai?"

"Yeah, well, at least it's not up my own ass! 'Sides, I'm just tryin' ta be a good friend here!"

Sasuke snorted. "Oh yeah. You're such a good friend, trying to cut off my hand. I've seen your scores on the medic test—I'm not letting you try surgery on me."

"Jackass, that's not what I was going to do!" Naruto huffed. He readjusted the kunai he was holding and brought it down on his own hand. Blood dribbled in a steady stream down his palm and dripped onto the forest floor. Before Sasuke could say anything, Naruto had grabbed his hand and pressed the two cuts together.

"There," he said, grinning. "Now I've got your blood and you've got mine. We're blood brothers!"

Sasuke stared at their joined hands. "Blood brothers?"

The grin he received in answer was almost blinding.

"...Alright." Sasuke let his hand slip away just the slightest bit before hooking two fingers with Naruto.

"Blood brothers."

* * *

End of Chapter.

A/N: Most of this story so far has been flashes and scenes of the boys' childhood, so it's been a little choppy and maybe fast-paced. Now that they're ninjas (or are they?), the story will definitely get more into its plot. Hopefully, things will be more interesting to read, too. Hopefully.


	3. The Legendary Team

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (Shippuden) or any of its characters or plot.

Summary: In which Lord Hokage is done with everyone's shit.

* * *

 **Chapter Three: Uchiha Sasuke and the "Legendary" Team Seven**

As Sasuke and Naruto exited their shared apartment to make their way to Training Ground Three as newly instated shinobi, Sasuke pondered about the challenges he was sure to face with a dumbass for a teammate. He should have expected it, really, as Iruka announced the squad assignments the day before, explaining that despite Naruto's average scores and Sasuke's top marks, keeping them within one team would be more beneficial to them (Sasuke felt an underlying "and to the village" that Iruka did not want to say) than creating separate, more balanced teams.

He just hoped that Sakura chick who always bothered him and Naruto during the Academy would be able to keep up as their third member.

Sasuke glanced to the side and subtly scrutinized his friend. If anything, he was glad there was no longer any duct tape present. He could even live with Naruto's choice in brightly colored t-shirts, as long as the idiot kept them under dull-colored jackets. Like black. Black was a nice, neutral color.

"Finally got some sense knocked into you during the fight and realized orange was a horrible color for clothing?"

Naruto bristled at the blatant insult, looking more than a little ashamed to admit that his obnoxious orange duct taped clothing was a big reason for Mizuki and Iruka being able to find him so easily in the forest several nights ago. Nevertheless, he yelled back, "You bastard, orange is the best damn color to exist and your moody ass is just upset you can't pull it off as well as me! I mean, how was I supposed to live wearing _black_ all the time?"

Shaking his head slightly, Sasuke turned around to resume his walk as he replied, "As long as you don't switch your blue hitai-ate cloth and shinobi sandals for some stupid bright color, you might survive for a while as a ninja."

"Plus, I bet I can be the _best_ ninja, even _with_ orange clothes! Just, with a little more training…hehe."

"Hn, sure."

The boys continued to bicker as they walked, confident that they'd pass their new sensei's final trial to become official genin. After all, they grew up hearing accounts of Kakashi's so-called teamwork tests. With their advantageous prior knowledge, receiving a pass would be no problem at all!

…

"As long as you grab one of these bells, you pass. Working alone or as a team, I leave to your discretion. Anything goes when your want is strong enough." Kakashi-sensei jingled the three bells dangling from his fingers.

"Hold up! Time out!"

Kakashi-sensei tilted his head innocently. "But Naruto, we haven't even begun yet."

Said boy growled in frustration. "You know what I mean! Anyway, isn't this whole thing supposed to test our teamwork? Why are you doing things all different now?"

"Different?" Sakura was bewildered at the familiarity Naruto showed with their new sensei. As a matter of fact, even Sasuke-kun didn't hold himself so rigidly.

"Yeah! Kakashi-sensei used to test his new genin team with two bells, and if they couldn't work together to get them, then they failed. He changed it up this time!"

Sasuke-kun crossed his arms and nodded in agreement. Sakura frowned thoughtfully, seeing that the two boys really did know Kakashi-sensei. "And Sensei most likely changed it because Naruto and Sasuke-kun," here she blushed a little (addressing him so forwardly was so embarrassing!), "already know the true goal."

Kakashi-sensei clapped his hands together and his eye closed cheerfully, signalling that he was smiling. "That's right! Mah, I'm going to have such a bright group of students this year." His eye opened back up and pierced the children with its sharp gaze. "That is, if you can pass this new trial. You have until noon to obtain a bell. Luck be with you!"

On that note, the older man disappeared in a poof of smoke obnoxious enough to cause the children to cough violently and rub at their eyes. Once the smoke cleared, they saw a timer sitting on the grass, showing them that they had exactly half an hour to meet their objective.

"Gah! It's already 11:30?!" Naruto pulled at his hair in aggravation. "I think five hours is the latest he's ever been!"

"Calm down, you blockhead," Sasuke snapped. "We'll have to stick to our original plan for now and figure out his 'underneath' as we go. Naruto, create your clones _and make sure you don't start fighting each other_. Sakura—"

Sakura jolted to attention, trying to keep up with her teammate's (be still, oh beating heart) rapid fire instructions. It was the most she'd ever heard Sasuke-kun speak in total over the years she'd known him. "Y-yes!"

The boy simply stared at her, making her sweat profusely. After a moment, he seemed to come to some conclusion as he nodded to himself and turned back to his friend. "On second thought, Naruto, I want you and your clones to turn into Sakura."

Said boy squinted in confusion. "Why."

Sasuke-kun smirked that beautiful smirk of his and confidently said, "We're having a bake sale."

…

Kakashi narrowed his eye at the page he was pretending to read from his book. He never really caught on to Sasuke and Naruto's secret codes and had a feeling that he would never understand. His best conclusion was that the phrases they uttered to each other were actual events that the boys were involved in before. Quite perplexing.

The man sighed. No use in trying to figure out what they were scheming. He would stick to his own plan regardless of what they did. Those boys were still years away from being able to put even a scratch on their mentor during combat. But just to be sure… Kakashi snapped his book shut and tucked it away into his pouch. One could never be too careful with unpredictable, chaotic brats, especially one who pulled the most bizarre pranks.

A rustle from the foliage behind Kakashi told him the boys were about to start.

Kakashi had to give props to the boys. He was almost expecting an army of Narutos to bombard him with Naruto's signature battle cry of "For Uzushio!" and was a little more than pleased at how close his prediction fell. What actually faced him was an army of Sakuras angrily yelling repetitive but indecipherable lines about daifuku and taiyaki pastries.

Whatever the kids' plan was, it wasn't too impressive yet. However, he knew he thought too soon when the sound of hundreds of bells assaulted his ears and the field around him was suddenly blanketed by silver metallic sparkles, allowing a flood of pink and light red to reflect ostentatiously into his eye. The countless Sakuras, still shouting and screaming, began to pick up and chuck the jingling bells every which way so his vision was clouded by an assortment of colors.

"Honestly, creating chaos to work in your favor is such an amateur move, but I'll take it."

When the pink-haired girls began to fly at him as well, Kakashi moved around them in response, fluidly dodging all the reaching hands and wild kicks. Considering that he had never seen Sakura's taijutsu before, Kakashi made a relatively safe assumption that all of his assailants were Naruto and his clones. So where were Sasuke and the real Sakura?

Before the man could carefully stretch his senses out to find his other not-quite students, his left heel caught on a small root sticking out of the ground that he had not noticed before. During this split-second distraction, several things happened.

An uncanny flash of red that did not seem to belong amongst the red fabric of Sakura's clothes passed across Kakashi's view too quickly for him to process it.

A small group of Sakuras rushed by Kakashi and one of them managed to brush against the side of him that held the bells, successfully jostling one of them free and allowing it to fly through the air.

When one of the Sakuras caught sight of the free bell, the clone disappeared, along with all the other Sakura clones and bells on the field.

One of two remaining Sakuras transformed into Sasuke, who was rushing towards Kakashi to prevent him from intercepting the remaining and real Sakura from catching the airborne bell.

The timer went off from the clearing on the other side of the forestry, signalling it was noon, and the test was over.

When Kakashi righted himself from his stumble, everything went silent. The jounin was then faced with the three genin, one of whom held a single silver bell in her palm. The other two looked at her as well, and seemed to come to the conclusion as the other.

"W…we did it," Naruto whispered at first, before pumping a fist into the air and shouting, "We actually did it!"

Sasuke closed his eyes and smirked, looking smug as a cat. Meanwhile, Sakura just stared dazedly at the object in her hand.

With a jolly smile, Kakashi captured the kids' attention. "Yes, you managed to get a bell. Care to explain the last part of that plan?"

Kakashi should have expected it when he saw Sasuke turn his chin up as the boy took the opportunity to show off his smarts. "Hmph. It was an overall simple strategy. When Naruto and his clones went at you—half of them transformed into Sakura and the other half into bells—you would have been blinded by the color red. I also transformed into Sakura and used the red reflections to hide my Sharingan so I could cast a genjutsu on you that was inconspicuous but present enough to cause a small distraction. Sakura's job was to look for openings."

"Hm, very very clever, my dear disciple." Kakashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully, easing the atmosphere and creating a false sense of security. Suddenly, he appeared behind the two boys, and before they could react, he had grabbed their heads and knocked them both out.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" It was too late when Sakura finally came out of her stupor. "Sensei, why—?!"

"You know, Sakura," Kakashi nonchalantly interrupted, "I never said the three of you could pass together by obtaining just one bell. There are three bells and three genin. Considering you are in possession of a bell, by all means you have passed the test while these two have failed. Of course," he immediately continued, seeing Sakura was about to protest, "we can't be a very productive team being just one teacher and one student."

His words were innocent enough, but he let his tone give something away. The girl was almost jittery with obvious nervousness. "What are you getting at, Sensei?"

He looked her dead in the eyes. "As you are the last one standing, I am asking you to choose only one of these boys to pass along with you. The other will be sent back to the Academy."

The masked man watched calmly as the girl's eyes widened in horror at her predicament. Kakashi knew it was a relatively cruel decision to place on her shoulders, but until he learned what sort of person she was currently, she would remain a wildcard in his books. Over the years, he refused to teach anyone but his boys and it was by his request that Naruto and Sasuke were placed on a team under his instruction. The Hokage agreed on the condition that he take a third student to complete the squad, so if Sakura could pass his test, then all was well.

The fact that she was already hesitating between the two boys was a good sign.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura started, nearly in tears due to what was no doubt frustration. "I-I can't choose just one of them. They both deserve to pass more than me! Just fail _me_ instead!"

 _Congratulations, Sakura. You've done well._

The jounin merely looked down his mask at her. "Is that really how you perceive it?"

At Sakura's silent nod, he gave her an eye-smile, surprising the girl and making the atmosphere much lighter than before. "Looks like we'll have to work on your confidence a bit, but in the meantime, let's wake the boys up and we'll discuss the rest of the week's schedule together, ne?"

Sakura looked taken aback. "Wait! What does that mean?"

After poking at specific spots on Naruto's and Sasuke's bodies, the two woke up just in time to hear Kakashi announce, "It means that the four of us are now officially Team Seven of Konohagakure!"

"Why?! How?! What?!"

Their sensei placed a hand on top of Naruto's head to keep him from shooting off the ground in confused excitement as he explained that the entire test was initiated to lead up to Sakura's decision of whether or not to abandon one teammate for another. If she chose either boy, the entire team would have failed.

"Indecision is normally a trait that is frowned upon," Kakashi lightly began, "but in this case, it shows the underlying value you hold for your comrades. Naruto and Sasuke have heard this before, but I always take the opportunity to remind them: 'Those who break the rules are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum.' For years, I've lived by these words and I'm not about to stop. As a ninja of the Leaf, I sincerely doubt I could happily cooperate with another ninja who does not acknowledge and respect that motto.

"Bottom line is, I'll genuinely be able to work with you three and I look forward to seeing you all become true and proud shinobi of our village."

When all three of his new genin students gave varying exclamations of joy, Kakashi felt as if things were really going to work out in the future.

As he walked away from the training field after dismissing the team, he distantly heard the beginning of the boys' conversation behind him.

"Man, earlier that really brought back memories of the nightmare that was the Yokoyama's pastry discount sale."

"Hn."

"You're a downright asshole, but you're totally right about that."

Kakashi was left feeling smug for days afterwards.

* * *

Seeing Naruto practically bounce off the walls in anticipation of their first mission made Sasuke want to either punch him or join him. Luckily, Sakura decided for him by punching Naruto.

"Dammit, Naruto! Stop that! You're being a pest," she hissed, as Naruto rubbed his sore head dejectedly.

"I can't help it!" he whined. "It's my first mission as a ninja!" He proudly adjusted his hitae-ate, as if to show it off once again to the three other ninja forced to be with him.

"It's Sasuke-kun's first mission, too, but you don't see him trying to tear down the walls!"

"Well, to be fair, Sasuke doesn't seem to ever feel much of anything towards anything," Kakashi pointed out, not even glancing up from his book.

( _Success! I am cool and unaffected._ )

"Hn."

"Come on, teme. You're just as excited as I am." Naruto decided to use his extra energy to train, doing rapid push-ups on the ground. "I'm so pumped! We're getting our first ninja mission!"

Sakura gave an overexaggerated sigh. "Stop being so annoying!"

"Come on, Sakura-chan! Just because the teme's a cold-hearted bastard doesn't mean you have to be. Aren't you the least bit excited?" He jumped up, staring at her intently as she wavered just the slightest. "The idea of being a full-fledged ninja for the first time? Of being a hero to the people? Of seeing the whole world outside of the village, on an adventure to show it how cool we are?! And we'd get money at the same time! Man, I just wanna know what we're doing! Are we gonna save a princess? Defeat an evil overlord? Fight off pirates? Exorcise a spirit?! I can't waaaaaiiiiit!" Naruto proceeded to run down the expanse of the hallway, kicking off the wall and then running back, hollering excitedly all the while.

Sasuke yanked Naruto back before the fool had the chance to run more laps, which got him a glaring pout before Naruto resumed his excited muttering and frantic push-ups. When Iruka popped his head through the office door to call them in, Naruto practically ran their former teacher over in his haste to get in.

As he was entering the room, Sasuke heard Naruto yelling, "I'm ready, you old geezer, so hit me with the best you got!" He came in just in time to see Iruka punch Naruto in the head.

"Naruto, you moron, show some restraint and learn some respect! You'll get your mission, so don't act like a little brat!"

"Sorry, Hokage-sama. Naruto's just a little bit excited," Kakashi explained.

"So I can see," the Third muttered with an amused smile. "Team Seven, under Jounin Instructor Hatake Kakashi, will now begin their mission briefing. Iruka?"

The young chuunin stood up. "Alright. Do you guys remember and understand the breakdown of ninja and mission rankings?"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted.

"Yes, sir," Sakura replied assuredly, excitement leaking into her voice just the tiniest bit.

"Yeah, yeah, so get on with it!" Naruto yelled, only to get whacked on the head by Kakashi for his disrespect.

"Alright," Iruka sighed doubtfully. Still, he pulled out a scroll with the letter "D" stamped all over, as if it was possible for someone to miss it the first twenty times it was written. "The available D-rank missions are: assisting with setup and cleanup for a clothing sale, babysitting a children's daycare center while Kyoko-san is on a mission to the Village Hidden in the Sand, assisting in potato digging, or painting a green picket fence. Which would you like?"

Expertly ignoring the indignant outbursts that quickly erupted from his team, Kakashi replied, "We'll take the potato digging, thanks."

Still ignoring the cries of "THIS IS LAAAAAAAAAAAME," Kakashi led Team Seven on their first mission as a team of ninja.

…

"Nice job," the old farmer chortled. "Thank you so much for your help, sir!"

"Our pleasure," Kakashi replied amiably.

"How about I make you and your young'uns some food to celebrate?" He grabbed a potato and a small penknife that he used to carve away at the potato. "My specialty on this farm is the world-famous baked potato recipe! It's real simple, but people from all over love it." All peeled, he placed the potato in a dish and grabbed another.

However, the moment he put a knife in this potato, it quickly turned into a Naruto, which then turned into a poof of smoke. In quick succession, several crates supposedly full of potatoes turned into crates full of Narutos, all of which also disappeared into smoke, but only after breaking said crates from their combined weight. By the end, they only had a third of what they thought was the total, and that third was covered in Naruto's footprints.

"NARUUUTOOOOOOOOOO!"

…

"You failed at potato digging?" Iruka asked incredulously.

"Yup." Kakashi's dark look made Iruka refrain from asking anymore questions.

"Umm…okay… So there's painting a fence, finding a woman's cat, cleaning out an elder's attic, or trimming the trees around the village cemetery. Which would you like?"

"We'll find the cat. Bye."

…

"How…how did Fluffers-san die?" Iruka asked, slightly disturbed.

"Don't worry about it," Kakashi said testily, glancing back at his team as they adamantly avoided eye contact by pretending to be very preoccupied with removing all the cat hair from their outfits.

"Do you…do you need a break?"

"No."

"Um…alright… Trimming trees, painting a fence, reshingling the roof of the Academy, or emptying the public garbage cans around the village."

"Roof. Cool."

…

The Hokage cleared his throat authoritatively. "You may want to avoid crossing paths with Iruka for...for a little while. He did not take the damage to his classroom very well."

"Can you please tell Iruka-sensei that we're really sorry?" Sakura said guiltily.

"No. Your available missions are painting a fence, assisting at a local restaurant, trimming trees, or babysitting an elder's grandson. Which is it?"

"Food sounds good," Kakashi said.

…

"You are never allowed to go to Ichiraku Ramen again," Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

"Hey, fuck you! That was not my fault!"

Sakura smacked him on the head. "Narutooo, that was completely your fault!"

"Hokage-sama, I want to apologize," Kakashi sighed, bowing.

"Again?" the Third asked.

"Again," Kakashi said grudgingly. "So please don't fire me."

"Very well. Your mission is to paint a fence green. Hopefully your team can get through this one without any more lawsuits being filed."

"Yes, sir."

…

"I hate you," Kakashi stated.

"I know," the Third said solemnly.

"Can you swear that we will never have to deal with full-grown men in leotards ever again?" Sakura asked.

"No."

"It was the first successful mission you kids have had," Iruka sighed. "I guess Gai-san is doing something right… Anyway, go trim the trees."

"Where?" Kakashi asked.

"Everywhere. All of it. All of the trees. Just don't kill anything," the Third replied.

…

"Your job," Iruka read from the scroll tiredly, "is to quell the riots from environmentalists protesting the recent immense deforestation around the village. While you're at it, you are legally obligated to plant at least fifty-seven trees to make up for the ones you killed."

…

"How much money did we make from the last mission then?" Sasuke asked. They'd been running low on finances for a while, especially given the string of unsuccessful missions.

"Negative four-hundred and fifty ryo. You're still in debt to Ichiraku Ramen, the Academy, and a disgruntled potato farmer," Iruka replied.

"Can we stop for a little while?" Sakura asked tiredly.

"I thought you kids were excited to start doing missions," Kakashi said airily.

"This is stupid," Naruto said petulantly. "I thought we were gonna get actual missions, not stupid chores."

"And yet," Iruka sighed, "you were unable to complete even the simplest of chores. By decree of the Hokage, Team Seven has been suspended from attempting any more missions until further approval. Until then, you are required to undergo more training under your instructor."

"Seriously?!" Naruto shouted. "But that's bullshit! We never even got to go on an actual mission! That can't be true."

"It's true," the Hokage replied evenly. "Now leave."

* * *

Naruto groaned as he trudged down a quiet side street of the main marketplace. He was sick and tired of all the lame missions that he and his team had been doing week after week. Never mind that they failed most of them.

His entire demeanor quickly changed though once he reached his destination, and he hurriedly pushed open the door to the quiet weapons shop. Spotting a familiar figure behind the front counter, he waved energetically.

"Hey! How's it goin', Tenten?"

The older girl looked up from the scroll she was reading and smiled in greeting. "I'm doing great! And what about you? Heard you finally became a genin and already got into some trouble."

At the reminder of his shameful failures, Naruto visibly deflated.

"What exactly happened?"

"Don't worry about it."

Tenten merely chuckled. "Sure, I can just get the details from Gai-sensei later." She cleared up her space and straightened the kunai display on the counter before giving her full attention to the blond.

"So what brings you here today?"

"Well…"

" _Good news, Naruto. Now that you're officially a ninja, you have the go-ahead to test your seals in an open, clear, and controlled environment before using them in practice during missions. I was hoping to allow you some small missions to raise a little money to purchase your own sealing materials but…well. We know what happened. Good luck with that!"_

"…is what Kakashi-sensei said," Naruto groused. "My Gama-chan wallet is as flat as a tomato that got trampled by a horse and Sasuke won't give me any spending cash. I'm completely broke and you're my last hope, Tenten!" He finished his last sentence by diving to the ground and clinging onto the girl's legs, crying pitiful tears.

Tenten patted his head. "Yes, yes. I'll put your purchases on a tab and I won't add interest. How's that? Just don't tell my gramps!"

Naruto shot up from the floor, all signs of patheticness erased. "You're seriously the best, Twenty!"

One of the girl's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly, but she grinned anyway and responded brightly, "Damn right, I am! Thanks to me, no longer will you have to practice with ordinary paper and ink!"

She gestured for the blond to explore the contents of the glass case near the back of the store. Shinobi rarely entered a weapons shop with the intention of purchasing sealing paper and brushes when they could easily pick up a few pre-made tags at the front of the store, so Naruto was faced with a meager selection to choose from. He _could_ explore the other shops in Konoha that catered to his shopping needs, but the chances of him receiving decent customer service was in the negative and no other shop owner would do him a solid like Tenten had.

Watching curiously as Naruto inspected the brushes, Tenten walked up beside him and questioned cheekily, "So where's your team? Aren't you all on a sort of probation period where you need to train and prove you're not a danger to society? And the environment?"

Pointing to a medium black brush with a bamboo stalk for Tenten to take out of the case, Naruto replied, "You can take society and shove it up an elephant's ass. And the environment deserved it. I don't get why they all need ninja help anyway. Shouldn't the village put ninjas on dangerous missions instead of giving them shit chores all the time? We're all gonna become lats at this rate!"

"Lax," Tenten corrected as she brought out some sealing paper, an inkstone, and a relatively new ink stick. "We're all going to become _lax_."

"That what I'm saying!"

Tenten just rolled her eyes as she gathered all of Naruto's chosen materials and brought them to the front register. "I get it, I get it. I'll stop trying to apply logic to you. Anyway, you never answered my question. What are your team members doing? It's rare to see you or Sasuke out and about without the other."

"The teme is doing some grocery shopping and won't let me go with. No idea what Sakura-chan is doing. And Kakashi-sensei said he had to do something by himself outside of the village. It's totally unfair that he's probably doing some awesome mission without us! We're a team, goddamnit!"

Tenten's eyes glittered with sudden interest. "Do you think he's on his way to a duel?"

"Duel? Whaddaya mean?" Naruto felt as if he heard of something like this before. Did Sasuke talk about it once…?

Exasperatedly, Tenten tried to explain it. "I'm surprised this is one of the lessons you zoned out on. Duels are a longtime tradition amongst all the shinobi nations, said to have begun long before the Hidden Villages existed."

Naruto inwardly groaned. A history lecture was no doubt about to happen. He began to tune out the girl's voice until a particular word caught his attention.

"Revenge?"

"Yeah, duels weren't as regulated during the Warring Clans era, but it was usually the go-to when someone wanted to get revenge but didn't want to involve entire clans in the fight. It didn't always stop wars between clans, but it might have helped to relieve tensions. People still issue duel challenges today for the same reason. When they have a grudge against someone, they don't want to involve their entire village, so they request from their Kage the right to duel. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't."

Naruto stopped listening halfway through Tenten's explanation, but rather than due to boredom, he was instead caught on a vague memory. He was more aware than most people about the details of the Uchiha Tragedy (as most people had dubbed it). The scant times Sasuke had talked to him about it, Naruto could make some guesses as to how the other boy felt.

" _Every year, I'm reminded of it. That I was too late to do anything. That I was too weak to have even made a difference even if I was there. But I'm older and stronger now. And maybe I have the power to finally do something."_

If Sasuke one day learned the killer's identity, would he challenge that person to a duel? If he did, then what?

Naruto felt a headache coming on. He really wasn't used to overthinking a situation, especially on a topic as heavy as that one.

"Hey, squirt, you okay?"

He sheepishly rubbed at the back of his head, hoping the sudden stress he felt stored inside would dissipate. He chuckled in a strained manner. "Ah, yeah. I'm alright. Just thinking about all the instant ramen Sasuke probably isn't buying."

Snorting in amusement, Tenten handed Naruto his bag of items. "Of course. Wouldn't expect any less from you. Maybe if you run, you can catch him before he pays."

Naruto brightened up at the idea. "That's fucking brilliant! I owe you another one, Twenty!"

With that, Naruto snatched the bag from his friend's hand and made a dash for the exit. Before he could even cross the threshold however, he plowed right into a person trying to enter the shop, knocking them both to the ground in pained yelps.

Irritated that his head was now experiencing external pain, Naruto quickly stood back up, getting a good look at the perpetrator. He pointed an accusatory finger at them. "OI! Aren't you Hyuuga supposed to have super freaky eyes that can see everything around them?!"

Said Hyuuga picked himself up gracefully from the ground as he almost growled out a haughty response. "Only when the Byakugan is activated, you imbecile."

"Naruto! Neji! Are you two alright?!"

Tenten rushed to Naruto's side and helped him stand up and picked up his purchases as the blond focused more on the newcomer.

"Jeez, what clan kiss-up wiped _your_ ass this morning to make you such a jerkface?"

If Naruto thought this Neji guy had a funny arrogant glare before—it was no match for Sasuke's " _Begone_ , you nuisances!" scowl—it was nothing compared to the new twisted expression of repulsion he made at Naruto's vulgarity. Naruto might have laughed right in his face if he wasn't feeling so pissed. It seemed the universe was determined to deal an entire deck of bad luck to him.

Neji angled his entire body away from Naruto—a lame effort to ignore him—and addressed Tenten. "I won't judge you too critically on the company you choose to keep. But do keep in mind, Tenten, that stupidity spreads. I would hate to see your intelligence diminish and affect your shinobi abilities."

Naruto stuck his tongue out. "Bleh, he even talks weird."

Not the easiest to offend, Tenten took Neji's comments in stride. "I'm glad." Handing Naruto his bag once again, she subtly tried to nudge the shorter boy out the door. "Were you looking for anything in particular today? You hardly ever use weapons."

"Actually, I was tasked by Gai-sensei to inform you and Lee about the Chuunin Exam preparations. He feels we will be ready to enter when it begins again in four months."

Naruto perked up at the names. "That's right! You're Lee-senpai's teammate! I've never met him, but he's super badass, isn't he?!"

"Senpai…?" Neji's voice betrayed his obvious befuddlement at Naruto's speedy turnaround. He soon recovered though, and began to make his own remarks. "Lee is _not_ —"

"Weren't you going to meet up with Sasuke?" Tenten quickly intervened.

At the reminder, Naruto shouted out a curse and a, "See ya, Twenty!" and sprinted out the door, already forgetting the accident that occurred only minutes prior and not able to hear what the Hyuuga had to say.

(And he did not stop Sasuke from leaving the grocery store without loads of instant ramen in time. It was a sorrowful day, indeed.)

* * *

"Well, after these last few weeks, I think I can safely say that I hate you all," Kakashi declared jovially. "So let's start the training."

"But sensei," Sakura protested, "it wasn't even our fault!"

"It was mostly Naruto's fault," Sasuke added matter-of-factly.

"Teme, you traitor! You didn't even do anything the entire time! _I_ was trying to speed up the mission so we'd do everything as awesome and quickly as possible!" Naruto huffed.

"You blew up a cat."

"It was an asshole anyway," Naruto scoffed, waving a hand dismissively.

"The first lesson I taught you," Kakashi sighed, "was teamwork. You pass as a team, but you also fail as a team."

"BOOOO!" Sasuke yelled.

"I OBJECT!" Sakura yelled, too. "How come we have to pay for Naruto destroying all the potatoes by landing his clones on them?"

"Or for dropping all his clones through the roof?"

"Or filling Ichiraku Ramen up past maximum capacity and then eating all the raw ingredients?"

"You guys," Naruto grumbled, "can go to hell."

"You two had a hand in destroying the forest, though," Kakashi pointed out. "Especially you, Sasuke."

Sasuke threw his hands up in exasperation. "You _told_ me to start a big fire when it got dark. You said _you_ would keep the trees from burning."

"See?" Kakashi said, shrugging. "Pass as a team, fail as a team."

The genin groaned at the incredulousness of the man who was their leader.

"Now, now, children. Look a little excited, why don't you? After all, we have an exorbitant amount of free time to do some intense training. I've developed some simple training methods for each of you that will be relatively easy to stick to while we complete our missions."

This caused the children's faces to brighten in excitement.

Sasuke smirked and raised a hand up for Naruto to high five in joy. They had been waiting for years for Kakashi to start giving them some serious training, considering all he did for them was aid Sasuke with his Sharingan control and abilities and later, taught Naruto the Shadow Clone Jutsu and sent him to the library for seal research.

"We'll start with these." Kakashi held up three stone bracelets.

"Dammit, Kakashi-sensei! You got my hopes up that we were gonna do some cool ninja training! Why are we just putting on goddamn jewelry?" Naruto yelled indignantly.

"These are chakra bracelets," Kakashi said calmly.

"HA! So you ARE trying to get us into jewelry, you damn creeper!"

Sakura shook her head. "Idiot, you know what chakra is, right?"

"I think you mean _kachra_ ," Naruto corrected.

Sasuke expertly ignored him. "Of course he knows what it is. The seals he's been studying all require chakra to work."

"You've been studying seals?" Sakura asked Naruto in genuine curiosity. Said blond grinned brightly in response.

"Hell yeah, I have! And I even created some of my own! I finally got Kakashi-sensei's permission to use them because I'm an actual ninja now!"

Kakashi raised his hands in a placating manner. "Yes, yes. We'll get more into that eventually. For now, we should focus on physical training. So come over here and take these bracelets that I've configured for each of you."

"Configured…" Sakura muttered as she accepted the bracelet handed to her. "So the effects of these will be different for all of us?"

"That's right." Kakashi gave Sasuke his bracelet then quickly grabbed onto Naruto's wrist so he could slap on the remaining bracelet. He then pointed to the numbered scale that wrapped around the entire bracelet. "There's a dial that I can use to control the flow of chakra in the wearer's body. The lowest setting—which is right under the level I used for Sasuke—limits the flow to a point where a person can barely manipulate their chakra, but still allows the chakra to move through the body at a healthy level. This differs from a prisoner's chakra collar, which not only is absolutely degrading to wear, but effectively weakens the wearer's body and negates all chakra manipulation ability. The purpose of Sasuke's bracelet is to prevent him from using the Sharingan so he doesn't become dependent on it."

Sasuke crinkled his nose in annoyance at losing the opportunity to strengthen his clan's special doujutsu, but he would have to accept it. The training did seem legit.

"As for the highest setting, the bracelet actively opens up the wearer's chakra pathways so their chakra flows much more quickly than normal. I set your bracelet, Sakura, to just below this setting so that your body builds stamina by adjusting to the faster chakra flow and gradual increase in energy. I will remove your bracelet at the end of each day so you can rest properly and avoid chronic fatigue, and I'll remove the boys' as well."

Sakura nodded, face serious and focused as she furiously scribbled thorough notes on a notepad that she grabbed from her ninja pouch.

"Ohhh…" Naruto's face lit up in sudden understanding. "Then, then, what about me, Sensei? What is _my_ bracelet for?"

"For you, my dear student, I just gave you the chakra levels of the typical genin." Kakashi completed the statement with what Sasuke guessed to be an innocent smile. Made sense, considering Naruto's immediate outburst.

"What?! What kinda horse shit is that?!" Naruto looked darn right affronted at this, as Sakura looked darn right affronted at his language.

Lifting a finger up in a lecturing motion, Kakashi explained, "Everyone knows about your horrid chakra control, Naruto. There are also few who realize that the problem stems from the abnormal amount of chakra you possess, which I hear you and Sasuke discovered the source of." Here, Sasuke knew Naruto's mood plummeted just like his at the reminder of what happened with Mizuki. "If I give you limited access to your chakra while you practice the leaf exercise that I'm sure you learned in the Academy, you'll have an easier time of gaining some control over that chakra. It's fully expected that in the future, this will become very vital. Understand?"

The blond boy looked down and nodded his head solemnly. Sasuke couldn't help but feel the same, being reminded of the cold hard truths. Many people may hate them by default, but that didn't mean the boys weren't invaluable to the village. From what Kakashi said, it seemed he knew all of what transpired with Mizuki and the boys, and Sasuke wondered what the jounin thought. Did he hold some resentment for Naruto and Sasuke as well?

A hand that suddenly came up to rustle his hair jolted the Uchiha back to the present. He glanced up and saw Kakashi give him and Naruto a warm look, as though he knew what the boys were thinking, and was silently reassuring them. Okay…maybe it was a little unfair to judge the older man like that.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Sakura standing off to the side, shifting uncertainly on her feet. This girl… If she found out about those things, would she become just like the rest of them, the villagers? He unconsciously began to glare at her, causing her to jump slightly and take a step back.

Kakashi took notice and gave a warning look to Sasuke before turning to the nervous girl. "Mah, I'm sorry about that Sakura. I didn't mean to make you feel left out. You see, these boys have some personal hardships that I've helped them deal with in the past." The man put his hands in his pockets and tilted his head up to the cloudless sky, sighing all the while. "You kids are no longer the Academy's students; you are my soldiers now. But you are still kids, nonetheless." He looked back at the three in front of him. "Saying that, I am your teacher, not just your squad leader. I want all you of to feel that you are able to come to me with anything that troubles you. Alright?"

From beside him, Sasuke heard a faint sniffle and turned to see Naruto a bit teary eyed and rubbing at his nose. The blond gave his usual grin, and shouted, kind of shakily, "Jeez, Baka-kashi-sensei! Why're you gettin' all sincere and nice for?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his friend's susceptibility to sappiness, but allowed himself the barest smile. Turning his head, he saw Sakura wasn't unaffected by Kakashi's words herself. She still kept a significant distance from the others, but didn't look like she wanted to scamper away either.

"Understood, Kakashi-sensei," she replied.

Kakashi clapped his hands together. "Good. Now that we've taken care of that tense atmosphere, we can finally address what I'm sure you children have been anticipating: your first training lesson!"

"WOO! YEAH!"

"Urgh! Don't jump on me, idiot!"

Sakura just giggled at the boys' antics.

"That said, today I will be teaching you Kawarimi no Jutsu, the Substitution Technique!"

All cheering died as quickly as the trees Sasuke had set aflame.

In outrage, Naruto crossed his arms in an X. "Hold up a fucking second! That's one of the lame starter jutsu from the Academy!"

"That it is, my dear pupil. I'm ecstatic that you remembered."

"Sensei," Sakura began politely, "although Naruto might need the training for that jutsu, Sasuke-kun and I have already learned it. Why do we need more training for it?"

Kakashi crossed his arms, and Sasuke prepared himself for some bout of "wisdom" the jounin liked to spew and the boys liked to ignore.

The man gave a sigh. "You see, the Substitution, Transformation, and Clone techniques _are_ Academy level jutsu. But what isn't stressed enough is the fact that they are the foundation to all ninjutsu. Sasuke," he addressed the Uchiha, "you remember your cousin, Shisui, don't you?"

Sasuke stiffened. "Hn," he gave in an affirmative tone. Glaring suspiciously at his teacher, he asked, "What of it?"

"What was his signature mode of attack?"

Sasuke's eyes widened in realization. "The Body Flicker Technique."

"Th-that's a D-rank jutsu!" Sakura spluttered. "Wasn't Uchiha Shisui one of the prodigies of the Uchiha Clan?"

"I remember now!" Naruto snapped his fingers. "Sasuke-teme told me about him! He's called Shunshin no Shisui!"

"Precisely." Kakashi clapped his hands together. "Shisui was one of the few outstanding ninja in shinobi history who understood that this isn't some video game where you have a decent chance at victory by button bashing your ultimate techniques."

"Okay, fine!" Naruto relented. "But how good do you want us to be before we can move onto the cool shit?!"

"As good as the Legendary Sannin."

" _Fuck_ the Sannin! Isn't one of them a perverted snake traitor, one of them a perverted toad author, and the last one a perverted boob lady?!"

Kakashi rubbed his chin in thought. "More like _she's_ the one who attracts the perverted… But that's beside the point. What I'm trying to get at, is I'm challenging you three to be the best of the best using the basics as the foundation of your success. Think you can handle it?"

Sasuke thinned his lips and narrowed his eyes at Kakashi's declaration. The masked man really knew how to manipulate the situation in his favor. But by putting the ultimate goal out in the open, it meant he was making his students a promise to make them the best. Glancing at his teammates where they stood beside him, Sasuke knew they were on board, even Sakura, who usually shied away at daunting tasks.

"Is he challenging us to a duel?!"

Sasuke smacked his forehead. Naruto was an idiot.

* * *

"Here, Sasuke," Naruto beckoned, holding up a square sheet of paper in front of himself. "Copy this."

Sasuke looked up from where he sat on his bed, pouring over some scrolls on fire techniques. He raised a brow in curiosity, but relented and got off his bed when Naruto insistently continued to wave him over.

Sitting down across from Naruto, Sasuke peered closely at the black ink design on the paper. Sasuke would always be the first to say that Naruto's handwriting was absolutely horrendous and borderline chicken scratch, but he'd be a plain old liar if he said Naruto's fuinjutsu creations weren't beautiful works of art. Other than pulling pranks and inhaling ramen, drawing seals was the one thing he spent most of his free time doing, so he had years of practice.

This particular design followed the signature spiral pattern that many old Uzumaki seals contained. Making an outer circle were the kanji for each basic chakra nature affinity—Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water—and connecting each character to the spiral were indiscernible squiggles. Sasuke looked at Naruto over the paper and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"This seal looks an awful lot like the one on your abdomen," he stated.

Naruto rubbed at the back of his head in uncharacteristic agitation. Avoiding his friend's gaze, he mumbled, "I know it reminds us of how shitty and fucked up our lives are, but I couldn't help but find inspiration from it."

"Hn." Sasuke didn't respond much past that. He knew how much fuinjutsu meant to Naruto. It was the only connection he had to any family—any parents—he might have once had. Sasuke himself had the Sharingan as a sort of legacy to his clan, and he used it frequently despite the memories and pain it sometimes evoked. He couldn't criticize Naruto without being a hypocrite. Deciding to let it go, Sasuke turned his attention back to the seal in front of him. It was deceptively simple, but Sasuke knew he would only be able to replicate it with relative ease by using the Sharingan. Even then, he would struggle to understand the mechanisms of it.

"So what's this for?"

He sensed how Naruto immediately relaxed at the change in topic and was also glad for the lighter atmosphere. The Uzumaki pushed the paper closer to Sasuke's face.

"Just copy it and I'll tell you!"

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke activated his Sharingan—two tomoe in each spinning at a lazy pace—and did as he was told. "If you want me to easily replicate it during battle, you should have had me copy your movements when you drew it."

Waving the other boy off, Naruto replied, "Eh, details."

"Does it even work?"

"That's what we're gonna test! I need you to copy it so we can do a buncha trial runs at the training grounds!"

"And what does it do?"

"It's gonna copy jutsu!"

Sasuke paused after memorizing the seal, looking up at Naruto in confusion. "It's going to _what_?"

"Y'know, copy shit. Like your Sharingan. Kinda."

"…Okay. How?"

Naruto perked up and took a deep breath, signifying to the Uchiha that his friend was about to begin a long-winded explanation.

"You see the kanji here, right? They stand for each kachra—"

"Chakra."

"— _kachra_ nature that we learned from Baka-kashi."

"I know."

"It surrounds the main seal in the middle here that acts as a storage device while the symbols here work like a chain that pulls in the various nature signatures of any jutsu that hits this seal. This little hook and fish tail constraint keeps the jutsu in place and…"

It never ceased to amaze Sasuke how Naruto could be such a nerd. And that improved vocabulary, wow. It was unfortunate that Naruto was never able to retain his eloquence outside of his fuinjutsu studies. The blond's excitement sometimes got so bad that he often lost Sasuke in all the jargon he used. He felt himself begin to zone out and vaguely wondered if this was distinctly similar to how Naruto felt when Sasuke lectured him about shinobi history.

Knowing the other boy could continue to talk for another ten minutes, Sasuke cut him short. "Makes sense. Let's head to one of the bigger fields and try it out."

"Yeah!"

…

Standing side by side, Sasuke and Naruto gazed at the scene before them.

"In retrospect, testing the seal out with a fire jutsu was not the best idea."

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled deeply. "I guess we're both morons for not catching that."

Naruto frowned and crossed his arms, one hand holding his chin. "But still, why did we get a giant outburst of fire instead of the awesome-looking Phoenix Flower Jutsu? The seal clearly captured the fire element of the technique, but not…the…shape…" He smacked his forehead. "Idiot!"

Sasuke refrained from saying anything.

Ignoring the frantically muttering blond for the moment, Sasuke took some time to view the training field…or what was left of it. There wasn't a single patch of green left in the clearing; all of the grass had turned to black and dark gray ash, some areas still emitting faint smoke. The Uchiha grimaced at the completely demolished deciduous trees on the border between the field and the forest, knowing that the boys were going to have at least another hundred ryo added to their debt. Thankfully, an actual forest fire hadn't started like before (it was completely Baka-kashi's fault!) so the damage was…relatively…minimal.

"Ah hah! I've got it!"

Sasuke looked back to see Naruto holding his seal above his head, a wide proud grin on his face and several sparkles in his eyes. Putting his hands in his pockets, Sasuke moved closer to the other boy. Taking a good look at the seal paper, he saw that there were dozens of light pencil scribbles added to the design.

"Figured it out?"

Naruto nodded in confirmation. "Of course! There were some key elements missing because jutsus aren't made out of only the elements! Jutsus also have hand signs and shape and power and so many other aspects!"

Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke prompted, "So…?"

Taking out his pencil, Naruto used the tip to point at various lines and squiggles on the paper as he tried to explain what exactly he needed to add and for what purpose it served. Knowing Naruto would later ask him to copy his notes with the Sharingan, Sasuke allowed his eyes to bleed into the usual mesmerizing red. When Naruto happened to glance at him, he trailed off and was stuck staring at Sasuke's eyes. It stopped unnerving Sasuke long ago, considering Naruto did this every once in awhile.

Sasuke deactivated his doujutsu and asked, as he always did, "Something the matter?"

Naruto blinked and shook his head, as if to clear it. His answer was also what Sasuke expected it to be. "Yeah, I'm good. I just…felt deja vu or something." He scratched the side of his head. "Something feels familiar, but I don't know what."

Shrugging, Sasuke offered, "I keep telling you. One of my relatives probably messed around with you when you were a kid."

Pursing his lips, Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "And I keep saying, I think you're right. But also wrong."

From past experience, Sasuke knew the conversation was going to go nowhere. He looked up at the darkening sky and figured it was a good time to end their seal testing that day.

"Let's leave it for later. We should go home and eat dinner."

"I vote for beef ramen!"

"No. You're falling low in daily vegetable intake."

"You can take your vegetables and shove it in the mud! Along with potatoes and your dignity!"

And just like every time before, the boys momentarily forgot about Naruto's odd reactions to the Sharingan.

* * *

Orochimaru clutched his bleeding shoulder as he jumped to a safe distance from the man in front of him. "Y-you!" His eyes darted around the room at the looming shadows, lingering at the faint apparitions of the most dangerous shinobi in all the lands. He knew their capabilities, and their very presences loomed as a heavy threat, no matter how far away they truly were.

The man in the mask gave a happy skip and wave of his arms. "Come on now, Oro-chan! Why're you making this hard on me? You've just become a liability for us, with that gang of lackeys you keep building up. I would call it unfortunate that they chose me to break the news to you, but the truth is that I had to fight them for this opportunity. There is nothing unfortunate about this." He laughed, shrugging nonchalantly. "I will fucking enjoy it."

"Yeah, ya fucking heathens!" Hidan laughed from his perch, like an audience member jeering on a fight.

"You're supposed to be dead!" Orochimaru hissed, ignoring Hidan's background noise.

"Oooh, watch out, he might spit at you!" Hidan yelled. "Just kill 'im already, Tobi, before he gets saliva on your coat! Kakuzu's gonna charge you extra for a new one!" His loud yelling was soon replaced by swearing as Kakuzu promptly and efficiently smashed Hidan's face into the concrete from wherever the two were.

"Come at me, Oro-chan!" Tobi said as he leapt towards the man. Orochimaru dodged the man's swipe for his face. Though he avoided the brunt of the attack, the force almost seemed to reverberate off of his skin, deadly intent spilling into the air.

Orochimaru gave a demented laugh. "Don't be arrogant enough to think yourself the only one capable of great power, _Tobi_ ," he tutted. The man's lips were drawn up in a triumphant smirk, even as blood had completely soaked through his brutally injured shoulder. Even with the handicap, he raised his remaining arm.

With a single hand, he started performing hand signs. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu! Summoning Technique!"

Before any of the Akatsuki could be bothered to move, a giant white snake appeared in their midst. Despite its cumbersome size, it moved with an incomprehensible speed and ferocity that shattered the ground with every strike.

"WHOA!" Tobi yelled, fleeing from the large snake. "SNAKE!"

"Jashin fucking dammit, how come this dumb piece of shit got the job?"

"HEEELP!" Tobi screeched as the snake attacked yet again. The other members however, merely scoffed, laughed, or remained static, as distant as ever. If they were not intangible projections, perhaps they would offer aid.

When the scaly tail struck the next time, Tobi dodged in a sprawling mess, but he turned just in time to see Orochimaru disembark the snake, landing near him. Before Tobi had a chance to move any which way, Orochimaru's neck elongated and lunged towards him with a terrifying speed.

"I've always wanted to get my hands on a body like yours!"

Distantly, Orochimaru heard the commentary from the spectators.

"Aw, disgusting! Is the snake freak a pedophile or some shit? That's punishable by Jashin!"

"I don't think Tobi is quite _that_ young, Hidan. Besides, I can relate to the Sannin. Being in possession of a powerful body makes for a powerful asset."

"Don't start on your shit now, Sasori! And Tobi would make an ugly-ass flimsy doll!"

While the two missing nin continued to bicker one-sidedly, Tobi seamlessly bent his body around the serpent-like head that attempted to bite him. He swiped a kunai down to sever Orochimaru's head from his extended neck, but only managed a minor cut on the pasty skin. When the snake-man realized it may take more effort than it was worth to place a seal on the masked man, he withdrew and began to plan his escape.

"What's so special about little ol' Tobi?" the chipper man questioned with a tilt of his head. When Orochimaru attempted to melt into the ground with an earth jutsu, he was instantly intercepted by Tobi, who performed a lightning jutsu to shock the ground around the snake-man and cancel out his jutsu. This was immediately followed by peculiar black flames that licked at Orochimaru's deformed body, causing him great agony in the places where he lost his skin and a strangled shout to escape his misshapen lips.

"Don't be arrogant enough to think you can escape."

The unmistakable red glow of the Sharingan eye flashed noticeably, even behind the man's mask.

The sight burned itself into Orochimaru's mind to be the target of his scorn for years to come.

* * *

End of Chapter.

A/N: A bit of worldbuilding in this chapter. And yes, I straight up copied the jutsu sealing scrolls idea from the Boruto movie/series/whatever the hell it is now.

I think everyone knows what mission is coming up next.


	4. Changing Tides

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (Shippuden) or any of its characters or plot.

Summary: In which the kids learn the true weight of the word "shinobi."

A/N: I didn't want to do an author's note before the chapter, but I just wanted to say a bit of thanks for the reviews, and even the favorites and follows. It's quite encouraging to see that other people besides Miranda and I like our story, especially since this is mainly being written for our personal wish-fulfillment fanfiction (and let's be honest here; _all_ fanfiction is some form of wish-fulfillment). So thanks!

* * *

 **Chapter Four: Uchiha Sasuke and the Changing Tides**

An old bridge-builder stood at the gates of Konoha as he awaited the arrival of his team of escorts. He fidgeted quite often, taking off his glasses, wiping the lenses, then putting them back on only to repeat the process minutes later. There weren't many villagers to witness his shifty actions as the sun had only just risen and many people were preoccupied with opening their shops and stands. The man had hoped to be halfway to his own village already, but the jounin—whose face was so obscured the old man wondered why he didn't just cover the whole damn thing—insisted that his team of ninja— _children_ —be allowed to rest their bodies for a night.

The old man couldn't bear the thought of denying respite to the young, and eventually agreed. Tilting his hat down to cover his worried face, Tazuna wondered if this was such a good idea after all.

…

When he finished cleaning the dishes after breakfast, Sasuke noticed how quiet it was. Looking around the apartment, he realized Naruto was nowhere to be found. Feeling the corners of his lips turn down, he became annoyed that he'd have to track down his friend so they wouldn't be late to the agreed meeting time at the village gates (granted, no one has ever been later than Kakashi, but it was the principle of it). There was only one place Naruto could be, considering he left without a word to Sasuke.

Reaching the top of the Fourth Hokage's head, Sasuke found Naruto exactly where he expected him to be. Rather than sitting in some contemplative manner, though, the Uzumaki was standing at the edge of the outcropping, gazing out at the horizon. (He was always one to be dramatic.)

Coming up beside him, Sasuke faced forward as well, not saying anything as he waited for his friend to speak. After a minute, Naruto took a deep breath and did so with great vigor. "The day's finally here, Sasuke! And this time we know it's not bullshit! We get to go outside these walls," he gestured to the looming continuous structure surrounding the village, the most constant presence in every Konohan child's life, "and we're gonna show the whole world what we're made of! I'm sick and tired of seeing the same buildings and trees and stupid faces my whole life—don't worry, your stupid face isn't too bad—and now we can finally have some excitement!"

"Oi." Sasuke lightly rapped his knuckles against Naruto's head. "Stop it with the depressing talk. That's my job."

Naruto scoffed. "I wasn't being depressing, asshole! I was talking about the start of our epic adventure and _you_ were probably thinking something sad again. So _you_ stop it!" He emphasized his last statement by jabbing a finger into Sasuke's side.

"Fucking—! Okay, so what the hell _are_ you doing up here? We have to be at the gates in five minutes!"

Naruto waved it off dismissively. "Baka-kashi-sensei won't even be there yet." Putting his hands on his hips, he answered Sasuke's question. "I'm ready to show the world the start of my journey to become Hokage, fucking believe it! We're gonna be legendary!" He grabbed Sasuke's right hand with his left and lifted them into the air with a cheer. "They'll regret treating us like shit!"

Sasuke yanked his hand back to his side. "Just shut up, would you? Besides, _you're_ the only one here who wants to be Hokage. And for the villagers' acknowledgement? I keep telling you that they don't matter. They're all idiots and cowards."

"Tsk tsk," Naruto tutted. "And who are you to tell me what I can't be? Or dream to be? What do _you_ plan to do with your life?"

Sasuke snorted. "Hmph. C'mon, dobe. Let's go to the gates now."

Throwing an accusatory finger at the older boy, Naruto exclaimed, "Aha! Changing the subject once again, eh, Uchiha Sasuke-teme?! I'll pry the truth out of you, one day!" Though he followed him down the mountain face anyway.

Walking in front of Naruto where he couldn't see his face, Sasuke had lost his smile as he became lost in thought.

…

"—and you only use the 35-degree angle because even the smallest change will cause it to do something completely different, like unlock the sweep mechanism. Instead, it will allow the chakra bridge to move… _here._ " On the last word, Naruto jabbed his pen at a particular point on his tiny notepad, tilting it slightly so Sakura, who walked behind him and to the side, could see.

The girl herself just stared blankly at the paper. Behind the two, Tazuna bent down a little to mutter to Sasuke, who walked on the other side of him from Sakura as per the standard formation when guarding a client. "That kid some kind of math whiz or something? Sounds more like a scholar than a ninja."

An overdramatic sigh sounded behind the old man.

"Believe me," Kakashi began, "our lives would be much easier if Naruto were scholarly in any regard. Alas, he's just ranting about his seals again."

Tazuna just looked ahead in consternation, as that response had in no way solved any of his confusion. Should he take it as a good sign that his bodyguards seemed to know what they were doing, even if they made no sense? Maybe it wasn't too late to turn back and request a new team…

Suddenly, chains shot out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around and pulled apart the only person Tazuna had any confidence in.

…

"That was really mean of you, Sensei!" Sakura whined, tears—that didn't seem all that anguished—in her eyes.

"I agree!" Naruto's hand shot up in said agreement.

All Sasuke did was grunt, hands buried in his pockets.

Tazuna rubbed at his forehead. On one hand, he was glad that the ninjas had not abandoned him upon learning that he lied about the mission parameters. On the other, he felt he was surrounded by fools who didn't take their jobs seriously.

"Even so, I got the chance to see my precious students have at it against real enemies," the jounin cheerfully said. "Not too bad."

The children immediately erupted into protests, insisting that they did damn better than the man was insinuating. Tazuna had no opinion other than he was still alive and sweating nervous bullets. He remained that way the entire trip to the coast of the Land of Fire and across the water, and only when the group reached the shores of his home island did he shake him himself back to complete awareness.

"That rower was a cool guy," Naruto proclaimed, fingers clasped behind his head. "Kinda jittery, though."

"Well, that Gato person is terrorizing all the inhabitants of Waves," Sakura began. "Not everyone is able to defend themselves, especially when they aren't shinobi."

Naruto hummed skeptically. He looked at the foliage lining the side of the road, then at the misty surface of the lake they were approaching as he complained, "Why don't they all just become ninja, then? Everyone could protect themselves if they just trained."

Out of the corner of his eye, Tazuna saw the dark-haired boy twitch, then clench his his hands into whitening fists. "You know it isn't that simple," Sasuke bit out.

Naruto faltered for a moment before lowering his arms and quieting down. The old bridge-builder just left it alone. It wasn't his business what ninjas did, and he preferred it stay that way.

Suddenly, Naruto stopped in his tracks, frozen for a quick second before spinning around and throwing a handful of shuriken into the bushes. The boy ran to check if he hit his anticipated target, but cried out in dismay when all he found was a dead snow rabbit.

"Naruto! You—!"

"Shush!" Kakashi cut Sakura off before she could scold her teammate.

Tazuna held his breath as he watched the boy close his eyes and furrow his eyebrows in concentration. Naruto placed a hand on his stomach and gripped tightly to the fabric of his t-shirt. After a moment, his eyes snapped back open and he dived at Sasuke and Tazuna, yelling, "Someone's here!" before pulling the two to the ground.

All Tazuna could comprehend for the next ten minutes—but it felt so much longer than that, as time seemed suspended when one feared for their life—was a demonstration of otherworldly shinobi sorcery, and all he had to rely on were the small preteens before him.

Even when the battle was supposedly over and that criminal, Zabuza, lied motionless against a tree, it was proven that the danger was not over when Naruto, clutching his gut once more, loudly cried out, "He's not dead!" But the masked stranger had already disappeared and the jounin fell to the ground, still conscious, but completely incapable of movement.

The pink-haired girl rushed to her sensei's side while Sasuke remained by Tazuna in case any more enemies appeared. "Naruto," the boy called, "are they still here?"

"Che," the blond scoffed. "Not that I can tell. But I don't have that sick feeling anymore."

Draping Kakashi's arm around her shoulders, Sakura helped the man stand up and had him lean against her, causing her to stumble slightly. "Can you sense people or something?"

Naruto grabbed the man's other arm and took half the weight from Sakura. The group continued their trek along the path once again, now wary of their surroundings.

"Nah," Naruto answered. "I think I can only sense assholes or some shit, not all people. It's this weird thing, like… like wanting to throw up. That Zabuza guy's feel never changed. That other guy who showed up seemed cool though."

"Regardless, we need to make the assumption that Zabuza and other potential enemies will eventually come after our client again. As soon as we can, let's make a general plan to keep Tazuna constantly protected," Kakashi huffed out, still exhausted. "This mission's parameters have changed from escorting the bridge-builder and protecting him from bandits to establishing 24/7 protection detail against S-class criminals for an indefinite time. We need to take this very seriously starting four hours ago."

The strict tone was one that caused a great change in the children. Little more was said before the group reached Tazuna's humble home a few miles later.

* * *

When he watched the brats, he wondered how long it'd been since he'd seen anything this childish. The two boys argued over trivial matters like bitter rivals while the girl exasperatedly and pointlessly mediated and their leader watched on amusedly. They acted carelessly, and even more so contrasted against the somber mood of his village.

Even when bruised and battered from their training, the kids were noisy and boisterous. Even with the possibility of death hanging like a noose on the gallows, the boys ate competitively while the girl yelled shrilly at them when they threw the food right up. Even with the sense of tragedy that seemed to permeate the air, the kids spoke and acted with an ease that made the suffocating hopelessness dissipate. They were children in every sense of the idea.

When he told them the story of Kaiza, of the hope that had been ripped from them, a familiar sense of weariness settled in the room but—but it was different.

The girl looked heartbroken, but in the way a parent was—it was on someone else's behalf, and there was an undercurrent that she could make it better. The jounin looked weary, but in the way a leader was—ready to correct the mistakes of the past. The dark-haired boy remained quiet, but in the way an adult was—understanding of the heavy weight of the tragedy that had broken the spirit of the small village. And the short blond-haired kid…he was loud.

"I'm gonna prove Kaiza right! I'll prove that, in this world, heroes do exist!" He grinned from ear to ear, in a way that made the other two ninja children smile.

Inari did not.

"You guys can act all cool and talk all tough, but you're a bunch of clowns just running your mouth when you don't know a thing! And you're even more stupid than you look and sound if you think you're gonna take on Gato like some sort of superheroes. You don't know anything about Gato! You don't know anything about this town you're trying to save! You don't know anything about the terror or suffering or loneliness I've known! You'll be crushed like maggots before—"

Before Tazuna could pull his grandson back and—reprimand him, comfort him—Naruto slammed his hands on the table.

"So you think sitting on your ass and cryin' is gonna solve anything? Go ahead and cry your heart out and treat everyone like guests to your pity party! It takes a really big man to sit around and cry, huh, you brat? You big baby!"

Naruto continued glaring at the boy, even as tears streamed down Inari's stricken face. The girl was yelling at Naruto, but the other boy—Sasuke—had placed a hand on Inari's shoulder. The little boy had merely shaken it off and continued his meal, even as his tears fell onto his paltry dish and his hiccupping sobs made eating seem like a chore.

Tazuna sighed silently to himself, surreptitiously glancing at the ninja. For the first time since Kaiza died, he let himself hope. Maybe these kids could cure this village of the shadows that had suffocated them for so long.

* * *

Sasuke was astonished. Of all times Naruto could have proved his utter lack of common sense, it had to be when the enemy had the ability to trap them. Now the both of them were stuck in a circle of impenetrable ice mirrors. Sasuke's fire jutsus were ineffective against the frost, possibly weakened further by the biting cold. Meanwhile, Naruto brought out his best sealing parchment.

"The mirrors are made out of chakra, so my new seal might be able to absorb it!" Naruto rapidly informed Sasuke, hopefully low enough that the masked nin couldn't hear him.

Sasuke pulled some senbon needles out of his arms and nodded. It wasn't foolproof (hell, Naruto hadn't even tested this particular seal yet), but it was a plan.

Seeing that Sasuke understood, Naruto shoved the parchment and a wet ink brush into his hands and grabbed the fallen needles from the ground, ready to defend his teammate. Speed had never been his forte so he was hit many times, doing his best to take the brunt of the attacks that the masked nin tried to make against Sasuke.

The Uchiha himself had immediately knelt down, seal paper flat on the ground, and began to draw a seal with fluid and speedy movements of his left hand, completing the seal within seconds thanks to his Sharingan's memory.

"The trust you show one another… I see you both fight to protect something precious to you, just as I do."

Sasuke looked up just as Naruto seemed to falter slightly, allowing more needles to jab into his left leg. "Idiot! Don't let him trick you!" he yelled, for why else would their enemy suddenly say such a thing?

"But—!"

"Believe what you want. I know my purpose as a shinobi."

Sasuke didn't care to hear anymore. He lifted himself to his feet, grasping the quickly drying seal in his hand. He began a run towards one of the open spaces between mirrors but took a sharp turn a few feet before to mislead his enemy, heading straight for a mirror instead. The masked nin's reflection disappeared when he saw Sasuke's destination as if to run away from the boy. That suited Sasuke just fine, as it actually helped him.

He slapped the paper seal onto the icy surface of the mirror and poured his chakra into it. A hum was felt beneath his palm as the seal mechanisms activated and began to suck away at the composition of the ice jutsu, along with some of Sasuke's chakra to power it. A loud pop was heard and the mirror disappeared, leaving a gaping hole in the enemy's ice trap.

"Alright! It worked!" he heard Naruto cheer from behind him.

"Impossible!" the masked nin cried in disbelief.

And so the boys ran within the broken circle of ice in a random order, passing the seal back and forth between them and leaving their opponent scrambling to prevent them from either escaping or absorbing another mirror. As successful as their plan first started out, however, it did not mean that Sasuke did not feel fatigue begin to set in, and he was sure Naruto was weakening due to the accumulation of senbon needles in his body. The situation became dire once more when Sasuke tried to seal a sixth mirror and nothing happened.

"Shit," he breathed. "The seal reached its holding capacity?" He turned around in a panic and swept his gaze around the circle. There were at least another ten mirrors and no opening was more than one mirror wide.

What to do, what to do?

"Oi, Sasuke! We gotta fix the training field!"

…Ah. That was a brilliant idea.

Sasuke nodded. "Got it!"

The boys did as before, but instead of Naruto using the seal to get rid of a mirror, Sasuke used the distraction to draw a new seal on his blank parchment. Once it was complete, they switched seals and Sasuke flashed through hand signs for one of his favorite jutsus.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

The masked nin did not bother to intercept the attack since the fire caused no damage before, which allowed Naruto to easily run into the path of the flames and throw the new seal out in front of himself. Just as with the ice mirrors, the jutsu was sucked right in.

Naruto stopped in his tracks as soon as the last flame disappeared and turned around so he faced away from Sasuke. "You ready, teme?"

Coming up right behind his friend, Sasuke shouted an affirmative. Naruto bit his thumb and swiped his blood across the seal. The boys braced themselves as their limbs locked into place because their few seconds of immobility allowed the masked nin to land senbon needles in paralyzing nerves. But it was too late, as fire had already been released in a great torrent that expanded out towards the remaining mirrors. The fire exploded outward and the ice shattered as the intense heat managed to melt some of it. The boys themselves were left where they had been standing, as they were at the center of the blast.

When the smoke and mist cleared away, Sasuke opened his eyes to see the masked nin on the ground several meters away, clothing scorched and mask cracked almost all the way down the middle. Glancing around, he saw all the scattered ice shards quickly melting now that the jutsu had broken. After pulling out some senbon, he turned to Naruto and smirked in victory. "Heh, not too bad."

Naruto scoffed. "'Not too bad'? That was pretty fucking amazing and you know it!" He held his now useless seal above his head in reverence, proud tears in his eyes. "My babies worked!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and was about to make a snide comment when his senses told him to dodge, right before some unheard of jutsu name was called out. "Shit!"

The boys leapt in opposite directions and Sasuke looked back to see the masked nin back on his feet. In both hands he held sharp stake-like icicles, one of which was dripping with red blood. With his heart in his throat, Sasuke whipped his head to Naruto, whose body was still pricked by dozens of senbon needles, but what frightened Sasuke was the long cut that spanned across the entirety of his friend's neckline right under his collarbone. Blood gushed out and stained the orange shirt an ugly shade of vermillion, a stark contrast to the boy's rapidly paling skin.

( _He should close his eyes, but it was too late. It's already become a stained memory._ )

"NARUTOOO!"

Said boy began to topple to the frosted ground and Sasuke forced his fatigued body to move, but he knew he was too far away to catch him. A blur of pink shot by him and Naruto's fall was instead cushioned by their female teammate, causing them both to land sloppily, but softly. Sasuke slowed his steps down to a stop as Sakura cradled Naruto's head ever so gently before spotting the blood and trying ( _failing_ ) to apply pressure to the wound.

( _He knew she knew that wasn't correct procedure. But he couldn't say anything. She trembled and brokenly sobbed so harshly she wouldn't have heard._ )

"I did not want it to end this way."

Sasuke's head shot up.

"It is a regrettable death, but I will do it again to protect the one most precious to me."

It was such a sorrowful tone, but Sasuke didn't hear it. His ears felt plugged and his muscles tense as his mind and body was overcome by a rage he had never felt before ( _or maybe he had_ ). His eyes burned as he set his sights on the source of his fury.

( _He was helpless all those years ago, but now…now, he had power._ )

Running through a sequence of hand signs he knew by heart, Sasuke took the deepest breath he could and held it long enough for the chakra in his lungs to transform. Then, rather than let a steady stream of heat flow through his lips, he instead gave an almost anguished cry as he released the grandest fireball he had ever produced, created from the essence of his anger. The masked nin was not able to avoid the attack and was engulfed in flames. Without giving his enemy a reprieve, Sasuke used the dispersing flames to hide his movement as he ran towards the nin. He pulled out a kunai with his left hand and slashed.

A clang resounded around Sasuke and the nin as kunai met senbon. Sasuke was furious to see that the fireball had not even harmed his opponent; lukewarm puddles of water told him the nin had used an ice technique to protect himself.

"I assume he was someone very precious to you. It is quite sad that only now you fight for him."

Perhaps the nin had spoken in sympathy, pity, or maybe mockery. Sasuke did not know, as the words were accompanied by the unchanging face of the porcelain mask before him, which served to infuriate him more.

He attempted to swipe his kunai across his enemy's face and suddenly the masked nin's movements seemed to become sluggish. This allowed Sasuke to use his free hand to grab and stop the senbon needle from blocking his kunai, which successfully scraped through the porcelain mask and broke it into two.

But Sasuke didn't stop there.

He jerked the senbon out of the shocked nin's hand and stabbed. He didn't care where. As long as the nin felt as much pain as possible as he died, Sasuke didn't care.

Sasuke tugged at the needle and pulled it free as the now unmasked nin fell backwards with a dull thud onto the bridge, his brown eyes staring unblinking at the sky, motionless.

( _That face. It seemed…familiar._ )

Sasuke dropped the broken senbon needle next to the cracked mask and lugged his body, broken as it was, to where Sakura was holding onto Naruto's head, as if hugging it would make everything better. Tears left clean stripes on her face through the blood and grime of the fight. He heard the clang of metal and knew Kakashi was still fighting against a demon just a little ways away, but he doubted he'd be able to even get that far, much less be of use.

Instead, he stopped right in front of Sakura, shaking ( _terrified—of Haku or Zabuza or him, fuck if he knows anymore_ ) and Naruto, still ( _dobe's never still, always jumping about like a nuisance_ ).

He dropped his kunai, which landed with a careless clang that seemed to reverberate across the bridge, before letting himself fall as well, landing ungracefully into a sitting heap. As if that woke her up, Sakura snapped back to the still Naruto, and readjusted him to keep a tight hold on him as she shoved around the contents of her pack until she found a roll of bandages ( _too little, and she knows it_ ). She placed two fingers over his wrist, but Sasuke questioned how helpful that would be, given how shaky she was and how numb her hands must have felt from the cold.

( _He placed two fingers over his own pulse and couldn't feel a thing._ )

She carefully readjusted Naruto again, and tore the ripped clothes away as carefully as she could, wrapping the bandages around in a facsimile of the images from the Academy textbooks.

"Sakura…" the old bridge-builder began. ( _Their mission. He'd forgotten about him_.)

"We need to patch his wounds or risk him bleeding out," she bit out harshly, between sniffs and sobs. "I-it's _something_ , alright?"

"Sakura," Sasuke says.

( _He pretends not to see her flinch. He knows that she knows, though._ )

"It's _something_ ," she repeats again, surer, even as the tears would occasionally start again, leaving stripes through the blood and grime and cuts.

He reaches out ( _she flinches_ ). "You need to save the bandages for yourself. For Kakashi." And yet he took a part of the roll and began to mimic her motions.

( _Later, he wouldn't be able to recall what she looked like when he did that. That was when he realized it was because he couldn't see past the tears in his eyes._ )

A thud sounded, and the two members of Team Seven immediately drew together, their fallen friend between them. It wasn't until Zabuza loomed in front of Tazuna that Sasuke remembered what their objective even was.

( _Why Naruto had died._ )

The Demon of the Mist didn't so much as look at his companion's dead body, instead driving straight for Tazuna, who was scrambling away.

( _The kunai was still in Sasuke's reach._ )

Kakashi kicked the man away from Tazuna. A flash of red met Sasuke's own before Kakashi faded back into the mist.

He hadn't realized they ran out of bandages until the end of the strip fell out of his hand when he tried to tug it farther. Sakura quickly fastened it with a clean knot, though her fingers were clearly stiff from the numbing cold. They had only managed to cover the top half of Naruto's torso, and the removal of Naruto's jacket only revealed how extensive the damage was. Sasuke stared at his own arm, seeing the holes and scrapes left by the senbon needles mirroring that of Naruto's.

A flash of orange streaked through his vision, making him nearly jump back. It was only when the orange bubbled up from Naruto's abdomen and encompassed his body that Sasuke and Sakura were forced to let go of their friend, lest they be burned. Heat rolled out in waves, transforming the mist into steam.

They watched in horrified wonder as Naruto's wounds closed and disappeared, leaving not a single scar to prove that he struggled through the same trials as his teammates.

"Th-that's—" Sasuke began, but couldn't bring himself to finish.

Sakura whipped her head from the surreal scene before her to Sasuke. "What…what is that?" Her voice breathless out of fear of the unknown.

The Uchiha did not answer her, too preoccupied with watching the movements of the visible tendrils of malicious chakra.

After a few minutes, the bright red-orange air dissipated, and bright blue eyes snapped open.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked tentatively, taking a step forward.

"Sakura-chan!" He grinned widely, as if taking her approach as an invitation, and wrestled her into a hug. Just like always, though, she pushed him away.

Sasuke took a step away, too.

"Naruto, what just happened?" Sakura asked, voice almost timid and shaky and barely even audible.

"Huh?"

Sasuke took another step away. Their voices were drowned out as Zabuza and Kakashi seemed to resume their battle nearby, but he could still read their lips.

 _What happened?_

 _I… What are you talking about, Sakura-chan?_

 _You… you were dead! We all thought that guy killed you!_

 _Wait, what guy? What's goin'—_

He whipped his head around frantically, as if he could see the answer written out neatly somewhere. He seemed to get the answer, as his gaze locked on the boy's still body and stayed there.

 _What happened?_

 _He killed you. Sasuke killed him._

When Naruto's wide blue eyes whipped to him, full of ( _outrage, anger, hate, betrayal_ ) shock, Sasuke looked right back. Naruto looked back at Sakura.

 _Th-that guy… what? But I'm not dead! Why'd you kill him?!_

Sakura backed away from him. _We thought you were!_

"BUT I'M NOT!"

The last sentence hung in the air, the echo audible even despite the fight that raged on. The fight—

It had gotten quiet. When had it gotten quiet?

Sasuke whipped around, only now aware that the fog had reformed. He silently cursed, jumping to stand guard in front of Tazuna. His sudden movement seemed to remind the other two of their mission. Sakura quickly ran beside him, and Naruto flanked his other side.

"So… This boy managed to kill Haku? He'll offer some amusement before I kill him, then…"

Sasuke reached into his pocket only to feel his heart freeze ( _when did it start beating again_ ) when he couldn't find a single weapon. However, before he had to do anything, Sakura knocked into his hand and slipped him a kunai, even as her eyes stared resolutely ahead into the increasingly thick fog.

"And another Sharingan user… You're really not that special if they seem to hand those out like candy in your village, Kakashi."

Sasuke felt his teeth nearly crack from grit. "Don't insult the Uchiha!" His eyes were hardly trained enough to see through the fog, but…

 _There_.

He lunged forward when he saw the hunkering movement of the large sword preparing to slam itself near them, ignoring the shouts from Sakura and even Kakashi, from wherever he was. He quickly dodged the sword—the man was stronger, but much slower than Haku—and landed a kick on a particularly nasty wound on Zabuza's shoulder.

The Demon of the Mist gave a fearsome scream, stumbling back a few steps before lashing out with the back of his fist at Sasuke. Even as he saw it come towards him painfully clearly, Sasuke felt his foot slip from one of the trails of blood and water that now decorated the bridge. The hit knocked the wind out of him, sending him flying into the railing of the bridge. He heard, more than felt, a few bones near his left shoulder crack when he slammed into his side.

" _This_ fucking brat? This is the brat who beat Haku?" He quickly shifted back onto his feet, assuming a defensive stance. "Maybe Haku was useless after all."

The young boy's voice reverberated in Sasuke's head, talking about special people and dreams and determination. "So you don't even care that he lived and fought and _died_ for you?"

"In the shinobi world, there are only those who use and those who are used. Let that be the last lesson you learn."

But before either could make a move, a loud voice rang, "DON'T YOU FEEL ANYTHING AT ALL?"

 _That fucking idiot._

Sasuke felt the air shift as Zabuza refocused on Naruto.

"He only lived for you! Everything he did was for you! You were his whole world, but you're just tossing him like a piece of garbage! He was your comrade! Your friend!"

 _Now_.

Silently switching the kunai to his right hand, Sasuke lunged back into the blinding mist, praying that Zabuza would be noticeable in due time. Surely enough, he caught the barest movement past layers of mist and pushed his abused feet toward the figure, only to throw himself to the side to stop his own momentum when he caught the flash of a red eye, just as Kakashi slammed his hands and a scroll into the ground.

"Earth Style: Fanged Vengeance Technique!" A cloud of smoke blocked Sasuke's vision even more, but he felt both give way about the same time as a pained shout resonated across the bridge. Steadily, the bridge cleared of mist and smoke, revealing trails and pools of blood diluted by water and cracks and breaks in the infrastructure.

Ahead of Sasuke, Kakashi was pressing a hand against a visible wound on his chest. He had injuries scattered throughout, to the point where it was difficult to distinguish where one ended and another began. Sakura and Naruto still flanked Tazuna, moving to cover the spot that Sasuke had vacated earlier.

Zabuza, the feared Demon of the Mist, was covered in six of Kakashi's dogs, all of whom had taken a vicious bite of him. The image was so absurd that Sasuke could have started laughing. Though that may also be the shock setting in from his various injuries.

"The Demon of the Mist," started Sasuke, "is being _dog_ piled."

Most everyone turned to give him a look of incredulity, but Kakashi simply walked towards Zabuza. The latter was so injured that the slightest jerk of movement was the only thing that betrayed his fear.

"The fog is clear, and so is your future. Your future is death."

"Maybe the man is right, Zabuza!" a smug voice sounded from down the bridge. Sasuke whipped around, and spotted a short man with a disgusting smirk and gait that spoke of an arrogance one wouldn't normally associate with his short height or broken arm. His cane and his suit spoke of a repulsive level of wealth, his shoes shined to the point that they may well have been bought that same morning. "Ahh, the feared Demon of the Mist! What a waste of my money. Well, maybe it's a good thing that I wasn't planning to pay you anyway."

Loud guffaws sounded behind him, and shadows rose from the dissipating mist, revealing an army of delinquents and thieves with larger weapons than they could possibly yield efficiently. Sasuke realized it wouldn't matter, though, as a shift in his stance sent the ghost of Haku's needles stabbing into his legs again, while the earlier crack in his shoulder began to make itself known as the temperature rose just the slightest bit.

Gato continued spewing a half-manic rant about power and business and betrayal, but Sasuke's mind grew foggy even as his eyes remained clear. He saw Kakashi standing rigidly between their team and Zabuza, a frozen barrier uselessly standing between them and a void threat. The Demon of the Mist's face flowed through an array of emotions much too human for a demon, before he quickly schooled himself into an expression of shinobi-trained apathy sooner than Sasuke could comprehend any expression.

( _Maybe the Demon had hopes and ambitions and a friend, but all that's gone now._ )

Gato strolled towards Haku's body, stopping a step away from his cold, lifeless eyes. To the side, Sasuke saw Sakura physically hold Naruto back. The businessman kicked Haku's head, a sickening crack resounding through the air.

Sasuke saw the man's lips move, too quiet for his ringing ears to hear, but clear enough for his eyes to see. _Low-life._

"Hey, you bastard! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Naruto screamed, voice echoing in a way that hurt. "And you!" he turned to Zabuza. "Aren't you gonna do something?!" Sakura was struggling to just hold him back, and Sasuke started limping over as quickly as he could to help her. Naruto's elbow slammed carelessly into her side, hard enough on another injury that she let go immediately.

He could see the army of goons laughing at the scene in front of them, half-dead punks arguing with a neutered threat. He paid them no heed ( _doesn't matter 'cause they're right so save your breath, you barely breathe already don't waste it—_ ) until he reached his team and nearly collapsed onto Sakura, who caught him clumsily.

"Like what? Shake my fist at him?" Zabuza replied. "Haku is dead. Nothing you do will change that. You're the ones who killed him."

Naruto recoiled as if he'd been struck, and went still.

"Gato used me," the beaten-down Demon continued. "I used Haku. This is a shinobi's lot, brat. Shinobi are tools. He was a tool—his blood was a tool—and so am I. He knew it; I knew it. I apologize for nothing."

Whatever hesitation Naruto held visibly disappeared; the anger that replaced it had Sasuke darting back to the others and grabbing the idiot before he did anything that would end with them—

It was hard to tell if Naruto's jerky movement away from him was from anger at Zabuza or at Sasuke.

"Naruto," Sasuke tried again, grabbing Naruto's arm, only for Naruto to yank it away hard enough to jar Sasuke's fractured shoulder. "He's not the enemy anymore—"

"Shut up! As far as I'm concerned, he's still an enemy!" he yelled, pointing at the man with an accusing finger.

A bored sigh and "who the hell is this kid? Can we get on with this?" from Gato reminded Sasuke that there were more important things to concern themselves with than a ninja who couldn't move.

"Naruto, we can't—"

Naruto whirled around and glared Sasuke straight in the eye with enough hatred for Sasuke to freeze in place. "FUCK OFF! Just because you don't give a damn about him doesn't mean I don't! You!" He whirled back to Zabuza. "He really loved you! You were the reason he was strong—he was trying to protect you! He loved you that much, but you don't feel anything at all?! Do you really not care about him? If… If I become as strong as you, will I become like you? You… his dream was just to help your dream, but you're just tossing him away…! He threw away his life for you! He died… without even his dream… as a tool… That… That's j-just so sad…!"

"Kid…" Sasuke felt his heart stop yet again that day as the Demon of the Mist turned around. However, there was no trace of the mercenary they had fought just moments ago in the tear-stained face of the tired man. "Don't you say another word."

"Ha!" came an arrogant guffaw from beyond them. Gato and his band of cronies were laughing from the vantage point. "Is this seriously the feared Demon of the Mist? The cute little baby Demon is _crying_. The only thing more pathetic than that is the thought of paying this fool to begin with. Isn't that right, boys?" A chorus of jeers sounded from the low-level bandits and thieves as Gato guffawed as if he had told the funniest joke in the world. Every word he spoke was obnoxiously nasal, an audible sneer that grated on every nerve.

"Shut up."

Every eye soon focused on Sasuke. Most in shock and confusion. Sakura in fear.

"What was that, brat?" Gato asked, the condescension that dripped from his words ringing heavy with an unspoken threat.

"I said shut up. You're pissing me off," Sasuke shot back. He took a step toward the man and—though he was a fair distance away—the army of bandits raised their weapons. He imagined the scene from afar may have been laughable: an injured pre-teen with a kunai facing an army of brigands wielding swords bigger than he was. "Do you delude yourself into thinking you're tough, hiring thugs to fight for you?" He took another step forward, reveling in how it made the businessman scramble back and the thugs to tense and wave their weapons threateningly, like scared monkeys waving knives they didn't know how to use. One man went so far as to shoot an arrow at Sasuke, but he badly misfired and only managed to land it a few metres to Sasuke's left.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Gato shouted at him. "You're a half-dead punk already! Quit talking tough like you aren't bleeding out your ears by this point! And you lot! Stop quivering like a bunch of babies. Are you scared of some snot-nosed brats?"

"Sasuke, get back here," Kakashi quietly reprimanded, grabbing the boy's shoulder. "We've no reason to fight Zabuza anymore, but we're in no condition to be picking a fight with that lot instead. Our priority is to protect Tazuna, and provoking them and being provoked by them won't help." The warmth of Kakashi's blood from his wounded hand seeping into Sasuke's shoulder did nothing to reassure him. "I don't want another dead kid today."

That stopped him. Any thought of fighting Gato and his men fled him, leaving a sickening emptiness in his stomach.

Naruto furiously shook his head. "Well, I don't plan on dying today! Hey, asshole! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?! Like, I don't know, a toddler?! Don't pick on a guy with more bravery and honor than you could ever have!"

"Oi, brat," Zabuza said to Naruto. When Naruto turned to him, face still full of defiance at the possibility of a reprimand, Zabuza simply looked back with a sincerity that looked out of place on a seasoned shinobi. "Thanks. Haku… it pained him to have to fight you guys. Boys just like him, ones he cared for at the same time he exchanged fists with them. He was too kind. Too…human. I guess I still am too. I lost, but I'm glad I got to face you guys in the end… Hey, kid." Sasuke glanced at Zabuza, whose face had morphed into that of a true demon, even with the marks of sorrowful tears still present.

"Lend me that kunai of yours, will you?"

He looked to the kunai that he hardly remembered was still in his remaining usable hand, the sharp metal edges stained with blood that had yet to dry. He threw it towards the man, who caught the handle between jagged teeth, bandages loosened to reveal the full face of the Demon of the Mist.

…

( _In the bloodshed that followed, Sasuke truly understood why they called Zabuza a demon. The scream that mingled with the sound of weapons and bodies falling, however, sounded painfully human._ )

* * *

End of Chapter.

A/N: A short chapter this time, but it came out faster, yeah? Oh, and it's also just sad the whole way through…yeah.


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